Snap, Crackle, Bang!
by Lightning-Tenshi-29
Summary: With Kagome unable to get back to the past, she has to continue on with her life. Until she gets a knock on her door from one Albus Dumbledore, claiming she must go to a school of 'Witchcraft and Wizardry' to protect her from Voldemort, who just so happens to be very interested in the jewel she protects. [Sirius x Kagome] Being rewritten 0/39 complete.
1. Chapter 1

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **A/N: This story is set as Kagome comes back from the past for the last time, at age 16 (I'm not sure if that's canon but my story assumes that it only takes a year for the series to finish.) This places her in sixth year. In this story, her time in the past is over, and she can't go back. Chapters will probably all be under 2000 words, so that I can write and upload them more frequently. She also still has the jewel. In my story, the premise is that she spends days in the void until, for what seems to be no apparent reason, she gets back to her time. Hope you enjoy it!**

 **Chapter 1**

She had cried for days after she got out of that dismal, dark abyss. The tears wouldn't stop coming, it was too much to bear. She had lost everything- her best friends were like a second family to her. Kagome had spent hours, her face drenched in tears, jumping into the well, praying that she would be able to go back, to see them all one last time. Being out of the void was just as bad as being inside of it – she had lost so much that it was eating her alive.

Kagome couldn't go back to the past. And her time wasn't any better. She was failing all of her classes due to her extensive 'illness', and she had grown apart from her modern-day friends, leaving her alone.

From the kitchen, her mother had watched her spend days in the well-house, mourning her friends. And she was sick of it. The last thing Satsuke Higurashi wanted was to watch her daughter waste away in the well-house, crying over people alive five-hundred years ago. Taking a deep breath, she walked out towards the well house, knocking gently on the wooden door to let her daughter know she was there.

"Kagome?" She called out softly.

Her daughter sat on the edge of the well, gazing down it, tears rolling down her cheeks, "Hi, Mama," She replied slowly, her voice rough from crying.

"Oh, Kagome," Satsuke took her daughter into her arms, comforting her as she shook.

"I miss them so much," She whispered into her mother's shoulder.

"I know you do. I know losing them has been hard on you, but it will get easier with time. You saved us all, Kagome. You and your friends saved Japan, if you hadn't stopped Naraku who knows what could have happened. You have done an incredible thing, and you are so, _so_ strong," Mrs Higurashi soothed.

"I'm sorry," Kagome sniffed, "They wouldn't want me to be like this, would they? I've done all I can for them, but it hurts so much that I'll never see them again. It's like everything here is a constant reminder of what happened."

* * *

Albus sat in his study, a grave look on his face.

"Whatever is wrong, Albus?" Minervia asked, her eyebrows raised.

"I can feel it. His power is growing," He replied ominously.

"He-who-shall-not-be-named?" The transfiguration professor asked in a hushed voice.

The headmaster nodded in response, confirming her fears, "And I know what he is after. She shall be safe here, but I worry it could place a target on our students."

Minervia swallowed, but wanted to remain strong, "Hogwarts is more than safe for her. I would rather it be here, where the school is full of strong witches and wizards than in the muggle world. You know they don't know how to defend themselves against the likes of he-who-shall-not-be-named."

"I have complete faith in you, Minervia. I, too, do not wish for the muggles to get involved in our affairs. Very well, I shall visit her myself tomorrow. Would you like to accompany me?"

She chuckled, "I have a class to teach. I am sure you can handle her on your own."

* * *

Kagome lay awake that night, wondering what would become of her Feudal Era friends. It was obvious to everyone that Sango and Miroko cared for each other deeply, she only hoped he could put aside his perverted ways to make her happy. Sango had stuck by her side through thick and thin, and had been the sister she never had. Miroku was like a wise older brother to her, offering the best advice when he wasn't asking women to 'bear his child.'

Shippou had been like a surrogate son to her, and Kagome wanted nothing but the best for him. He, without a shadow of a doubt, deserved it. It hurt to think of him, he had lost his parents and now her, the girl he looked up to as a mother-figure.

And Inuyasha. He would probably find some way to resurrect Kikyo, or go to hell to be with her. It was what he wanted after all. Kagome felt tears roll down her cheeks as she thought of all the times he called her a cheap imitation, or that he abandoned her to go chase after the clay-corpse of the woman he loved.

'Why should I cry over him?' She thought to herself, 'Here, nobody thinks of me as a useless copy. Here, I can be myself, without Kikyo's legacy hanging over me.'

She knew, deep down inside, they would never have wanted her to mourn over them. But she would, because she cared about them.

Sunlight started to pour into her room, making her squint as she looked at her alarm clock. It was 6:33 am, she hadn't realised that she had spent hours reminiscing about what once was. With a groan, she pulled herself out of her bed, stopping only to glance down at the jewel that was still strung around her neck.

'One small jewel gave me my second family,' She mused, before her thoughts turned on her, 'But it also took them away.'

* * *

It was half-past one in the morning, which was not the usual time Albus awoke, but he had to calculate the time he would apparate to Japan around their times. 'It would be no good to turn up at the Higurashi shrine at three am, now, would it?' He thought, wrapping one hand around his wand and the other around some books and a letter.

It was time to retrieve the girl before anyone else had the opportunity to get to her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 2**

It was roughly nine-thirty in the morning in Japan. The sky was a dull blue, hidden behind thick clouds of grey that dominated the sky. An older man, with a fairly impressive beard, knocked on the door to the Higurashi house, a pile of books, a letter and what appeared to be a twig in his free hand.

Satsuke answered the door with a smile, "Can I help you?"

Albus nodded, "I am looking for Miss Kagome Higurashi."

She raised her eyebrows, her expression turning to confusion as she called out for her daughter, "Kagome? You have a guest."

A few seconds later, Kagome stumbled drowsily downstairs. She was wearing a plain white jumper and denim shorts, her hair pulled out of her face and into a ponytail.

"Mama?" She yawned, frowning as she looked at the 'guest'.

"I should introduce myself, I am Albus Dumbledore. I know something about you, Miss Higurashi, I know what you are." He told her, a twinkle in his eyes.

"Please, come in," Kagome said unevenly, her eyes darting around to look at her mother, who seemed to be just as confused as she was.

He took a seat at the table, opposite Kagome and Satsuke. "I know you must have all sorts of questions, but first, let us get the most obvious thing out of the way. Miss Higurashi, I know you are, what the Japanese would call, a 'Miko.'"

Kagome gasped, her eyes wide in fear, how did this man know? And what could he possibly want?

Albus cleared his throat, "That jewel, the one around your neck, is very important to a very, very evil man-"  
"You can't have it," She replied automatically, assuming he was somebody that happened to stumble across the legend of the sacred jewel and wanted its power for himself.

He chuckled, "I don't have a need for such an object, Miss Higurashi. There is a very evil man in my country, England, that would do anything to get his hands on that jewel, or yourself."

"What?" Kagome shook her head in disbelief.

"Ah, I can't start there, can I? No, that would leave too many questions. Let me start from the beginning, Miss Higurashi. I am the headmaster at Hogwarts school for Witchcraft and Wizardry, where many young talented people like yourself go to become fully immersed in the art of magic." He smiled.

She squinted at him in suspicion, "Magic? As in Magicians? As in card tricks? I'm sorry, you must have the wrong house." Her voice was shaky, she knew he didn't have the wrong house. He knew about the jewel, and he knew she was a miko. And that was dangerous.

"You know what I mean, Miss Higurashi," He grabbed what Kagome assumed to be a stick from the pile of books he had dumped on their table.

She looked at her mother uneasily, searching for reassurance, only to find that her mother was also looking rather apprehensive.

He held the wand, pointing the tip of the wand upwards, "Lumos," He whispered.

Kagome frowned as the tip of the 'stick' started to glow a soft white light, "What was-"

"Nox," He whispered, the light from the wand stopping, as if it had been turned off, "You see, Miss Higurashi, Hogwarts is a school for Witches and Wizards."

She sighed, meeting his gaze, "I'm not a Witch, I'm a _priestess_."

Her mother, however, was left astounded at the small display of magic, looking at her daughter with her mouth agape, "H-Hinata, he could do that," She whispered.

"Mama? What're you saying?"

"Hinata, Kagome. Your father, he- he could do that. The 'spells', but I never believed any of it, I thought it was just joke magic," She responded softly, her eyes flooded with tears.

"You see, Miss Higurashi, you are from a long line of priests and priestesses, so you possess old magic, like that of the jewel around your neck. But your father, Hinata Higurashi was different. He was a wizard, and he was one of the most successful students from the Mahoutokoro School Of Magic, a place very much like Hogwarts," He started.

Kagome looked desperately at her mother, "Mama- is it true? Was Daddy a – a"

"Wizard? Yes, Kagome, yes he was. He told me but, but I thought it was just another one of his jokes, I – I really don't know what to say, I just, I didn't think for a minute any of it was real," She said softly.

Kagome stared at the table, how could that be possible? If her miko powers were real, if _demons_ and _time travel_ were real, why wouldn't magic be?

"Miss Higurashi," The voice of Dumbledore got her attention, "There is a man named Voldemort, who has been on a merciless killing spree around Europe, and most recently Asia, looking for that jewel. He is a very powerful wizard that would stop at nothing to bring chaos and darkness all over the world- he wants the jewel around your neck, Miss Higurashi. It has been decided that you should come to Hogwarts for your own safety."

Satsuke narrowed her eyes at the headmaster, "You're not taking my daughter away from me."

Kagome ignored her mother, looking forlornly at Albus, "You mean he's coming for me?"

"I'm afraid so, yes. The International Confederation of Wizards has decided that it is too dangerous for one such as yourself to be around non-magical folk, Hogwarts is the safest place for you." He nodded

"I'm putting my family in danger just by being here, aren't I?" She asked, reaching out to hold her mother's hand.

"It is highly likely he would target your family, and your friends to get to the jewel, and to your powers." Albus responded gravely.

"Mama," Kagome whispered tearfully, "I can't put you, Souta or Grandpa in danger. I've just lost Sango, Miroku, Shippou and Inuyasha, I can't lose you too. I need to keep you safe, you're all I have left."

Satsuke looked down at her daughter sorrowfully, she didn't want to be parted from her again, "Will she be safe there?"

"Of course she will be, Mrs Higurashi. Miss Higurashi, why don't you look at these books, they're about Hogwarts. This letter is enchanted, if you write on it that you want to go to Hogwarts, arrangements will be made to get you there for September, when school starts. If you don't, then I wish you the best of luck," He stood up, wand in hand and nodded at the mother and daughter, "Have a good day, I hope I'll be seeing you in September."

* * *

The summer was nearly over, with just under a week left until school started again. Sirius had spent the summer at the Potter's house, as he usually did.

"James!" He yelled, his best friend dashing down the stairs of the Potter family home to take a look at what had just arrived.

"Sirius, mate, is that-" He laughed, eyeing their package.

"Our supply of dung-bombs until Christmas? Hell yeah," Sirius chuckled, picking up the large box, and with James' help, hauling it inside.

"Blimey, you ordered a lot," James grumbled, setting the package on the table.

"It has to last until Christmas! I've heard they're going to start doing mail checks after last year's minor explosion," He teased.

"Come off it, it's not my fault the fireworks exploded in the hall," James grinned.

"Snivelly looked like he was going to shit himself," Sirius remembered the look on that boy's face when roughly a hundred fireworks exploded in the great hall, after James had dropped them.

"Classic," James shook his head with laughter, the two of them starting to formulate a plan for the opening prank of the year.

* * *

"Mama, I really don't want to leave you, but if something were to happen to you because I stayed, then I don't think I could ever forgive myself," Kagome whispered.

"He said you'll be safe there, all I want is for you to be safe, my love. I don't want you to leave, but if being around the shrine, where everything reminds you of the past is making you upset, you should go. You would get to be around your own people, I can't give that to you," Her mother replied, enveloping Kagome in a hug.

"You have given me more than enough, Mama. It's my turn to make sure you'll be safe."


	3. Chapter 3

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 3**

A mere two days after the strange visit from Albus Dumbledore, Kagome found herself looking at the 'enchanted' letter he had given her. She had already read the books, only to find that, as expected, life in Hogwarts would be very different than life in Japan. The school offered all sorts of classes; Divination, Muggle Studies (which Kagome had learned meant 'normal people studies'), Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, History of Magic, Herbology, Astronomy, Defence against the Dark Arts (she found that particularly daunting), Arithmacy and Care of Magical Creatures.

Kagome was sure the only subject she would do well in was 'Normal people studies', but she doubted even that seeing as she was far from normal.

She took the enchanted letter in her hands and gently opened the envelope, breaking the dark red seal over it. It was a letter, reading:

 _Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

 _Dear Kagome, we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcaft and Wizardry._

 _You will find enclosed a list of things needed for the new term, but due to your circumstances we will take care of those._

 _To alert us that you have chosen to accept your place, please write on the bottom of the page, in the space provided 'I accept the invitation.'_

 _If you choose to accept the invitation, you shall receive all the necessary equipment via owl, and the headmaster shall come and apparate you to platform 9 and ¾ on September first._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Minervia McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress_

Kagome took a deep breath, and picked up a pen from her bedside table. Deep down, she wanted to stay, to try to recover from losing her friends, but she couldn't put her family at risk.

' _I accept the invitation.'_ She scrawled shakily, watching as the black ink bled into the paper, the letters she had just written flashing a bright gold. Her eyes widened involuntarily, "Whoa," She whispered.

Maybe, just maybe, she could enjoy herself, or find some way to 'experience' magic, like her Father had.

She could barely remember him, the odd flashbacks of being held, hide and seek in the shrine, and going out for ice cream came to mind. It was hard on her, thinking that her mother had hidden the 'truth' about her father from her. But Kagome couldn't bring herself to be even vaguely annoyed at her mother, she loved her family too much. Her mother had tried everything to make her happy, and Kagome really couldn't blame her. In fact, over a year ago, she didn't believe any of her Grandfather's stories, but now she had lived them. Still, it was difficult for her to wrap her head around the idea her father was a _wizard_ of all things.

* * *

"You can't be serious?" James laughed.

"You _know_ I'm Sirius," His best friend, and fellow Marauder grinned.

"Oh, shut up, I mean your barmy 'plan'," He made the air quotations gesture when he said the word 'plan'.

"Just for the record, I think my plan that you speak so negatively of is a great plan," Sirius huffed in mock defensiveness.

"Turning Professor Slughorn into Snivellus isn't a great plan," James rolled his eyes, hitting Sirius on the arm.

"He failed me last year! He deserves to be Snape for a day, just for _one_ day. One day is more than enough to make him never want to fail me again!"

"If you say so, mate."

* * *

"I did it, Mama," Kagome confessed, holding the letter Albus had given her tightly.

"Oh, Kagome," Satsuke whispered softly, "I love you so much."

"I – I leave on September first," Kagome's voice was uneven as it truly set in. She had lost her second family and now she had to leave her first family. She would probably never get to see her second family again, but she knew that if she left, that her first family would be safe so that she could see them again.

Her mother wrapper her arms around her comfortingly, "It's okay, we'll send letters, and when this whole thing is over we'll go visit your father's family, I'm sorry you never got to explore his culture, their magical world just because I thought he was joking."

Kagome shook her head, "You don't need to be sorry for anything, Mama. I'm sorry I have to leave you, I need you to be safe," Hot tears started to pour down her face, "I need you to be safe, I love you, Souta and Grandpa so much, I can't stay."

"Don't cry, love. You'll be safe there, these Hogwarts people can protect you, and maybe you'll learn about your father's world. I know it's so hard on you, especially so soon after leaving the past, but you have to move on. They would have wanted you to have fun, to make the most of this," Satsuke smiled kindly, drying her daughter's tears.

"You're right," She sniffed, "I'm not going to sit here and cry, I'm going to enjoy it, I'm going to honour their memory, and I'm going to make Daddy proud."

"Oh, Kagome, your father already is so proud of you," She gave her daughter a reassuring shoulder-squeeze.

* * *

"Minervia," Albus nodded at the transfiguration professor he had summoned to his office, "I need everything on the list for our sixth year students for Kagome Higurashi."

"Hm? Aren't you forgetting something?" She raised her eyebrows.

"And that would be?"

"A wand. The girl needs a wand if she's going to fit in. The poor girl is going to get enough attention, she's our only transfer in the last fifty years! We can't have her try to perfect wandless magic when she's been using a different kind of magic for her entire life. Albus, she probably has the skills of a second year student, and without a wand it would be a lot harder for her," Minervia explained, looking at the list of things sixth year students would need.

"Yes, I see. I thought that perhaps because she was using wandless magic from an early age that- no, no, now I see you're right. It would be wrong to not give her the opportunity to use a wand. Very well, I believe it is still a reasonable time in Japan? About four-thirty in the afternoon I presume. I should take her to Ollivander's. She can get fitted for a uniform then, and choose whatever she needs from the shops. Yes, yes, thank you, Minervia." Albus rambled, picking up his wand.

And with a small smile, he was gone from his office.

* * *

It seemed to Albus that the sky in Japan never changed, it was always blocked by a thick dark grey cloud- it wouldn't surprise him if half the population said that they had never seen the sun. He had, once again, apparated to the top of the ginormous flight of stairs leading up to the Higurashi shrine. Why should he walk up the stone steps, possibly sacrificing the health of his knees, when he could just apparate?

He knocked on the door, only to have it answered by Kagome herself this time.

"Miss Higurashi-" He started.

Kagome interrupted him, a worried look on her face, "Is something wrong?" Before she paused, "Where are my manners? Please, come in."

"There will be no need for that," He waved his hand dismissively, "We need to get you a wand, you'll need one for September."

She frowned, "The letter said that the school would get my supplies,"

Albus smiled, "Well, Miss Higurashi," He paused, "The wand chooses the witch, so they say."

With that, Satsuke Higurashi came down the stairs, a concerned look on her face.

"Ah, Mrs Higurashi. If it is perfectly fine with you, I would like to take Kagome to Diagon Alley, to give her a taste of the magical world and so that she can get her wand."

Satsuke looked halfway between suspicious and curious, but she nodded, "Of course, please have her back by six, Professor Dumbledore."

"Ahem," He cleared his throat, turning to the girl by his side, "Miss Higurashi, if you could be so kind as to hold onto my arm and brace yourself."

With a frown, Kagome wrapped her hand around his forearm and took in a deep breath, her free hand subconsciously touching the jewel, as if to reassure herself.

"Excellent," He murmured.

Satsuke could only stand in shock as the headmaster and her daughter vanished, leaving behind no trace they were ever there.

* * *

 **Please leave a review, they help motivate me so that chapters will come quicker!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 4**

Dizzy. That was the only way she could think of describing the feeling she had, but even that didn't do it justice. One second she was in the shrine yard, looking at her mother, and then, she felt the most horrible sensation.

It felt as if her body were being pressed and contorted in an unnatural way, it felt as if there were snakes wrapping themselves around her wrists, her ankles and her neck, tightening, delivering a sickening pressure that made her wonder if she was going to die. She opened her eyes, her vision hazy at first, but it took a few minutes for everything to come back into focus and for the pressure to slowly dissipate.

"Very impressive, Miss Higurashi. I find that most people tend to be sick after their first time apparating," Dumbledore praised.

"It's not hard to see why," She mumbled, looking up. They appeared to be standing in front of a brick wall, "Uh why are we here?" Kagome asked quietly.

He brought his wand to the brick wall and quickly tapped some of the bricks, leaving Kagome with more questions than answers. Slowly, the bricks that had been touched by his wand moves backwards, and then forwards again, as if someone was pushing and pulling them from the other side of the wall. Kagome stared in wonder as the entire wall started to follow this pattern, the bricks pushing in and out, each time moving slightly apart until there was a relatively large gap in the wall.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley, Miss Higurashi," Dumbledore smiled, allowing her to take it all in.

The streets on the other side of the wall were bustling with life, the eccentric outfits that magic-folk wore left Kagome feeling as though she were somewhat of an outsider, as she was wearing a plain t-shirt and a green corduroy skirt. What must have been hundreds of shops lined the streets, each one looking more unique than the last. Dumbledore stepped through the hole in the wall and motioned for Kagome to follow him, which she did.

"First, we shall go to Ollivander's, to get you a wand," Dumbledore explained, the two of them making their way through the crowds of students doing their 'back-to-school shopping'.

"What did you mean when you said 'The wand chooses the witch'?" Her eyebrows knitted together in confusion as he stopped in front of a store with large glass windows and green paint- 'Ollivander's wand shop' was painted in gold above the door.

"I mean, Miss Higurashi, that a wand will choose you to wield it."

She pushed the door open, a small golden bell ringing as she gazed about the store. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of boxes, presumably full of wands.

Seconds later, a man with a full head of unruly white hair, dressed in a maroon suit scurried to the front of the store, "Hello, Albus," He greeted before smiling at Kagome, "Why, young lady, I don't think I've seen you before?"

"This is Miss Higurashi, she is a very special case, she needs a wand," The Hogwarts headmaster explained with a hum.

The man looked her up and down with narrowed eyes, rushing off to pull a black box off a low shelf, and pulled a thin, dark wand out of the box, and handed it over to Kagome.

Glancing nervously at Albus, she gave it a confused swing, gasping as paper from his desk scattered around the store.

"Evidently not," He muttered, snatching the wand out of her hand and placing it back in the box.

He retrieved a second box, and pulled a black wand out of it, and handed it to her.

Kagome looked at the wand with a grin, as it seemed just _so right_ to be holding it, to have it in her hands.

"Second time's the charm, eh?" Ollivander mused, "Mahogany, 12 inches with an extremely rare core, the hair of a Japanese beast, an ancient dog demon."

Kagome smiled brightly, to her it was as if part of Inuyasha would always be with her, though strictly speaking it probably wasn't his hair, "Thank you so much."

The man nodded, accepting a small pile from Dumbledore as payment, "My pleasure."

* * *

"Sirius, tell me again why we decided to do _Muggle Studies_ of all things?" James moaned, looking at their textbooks.

"Because we can just get Evans to tell us all the answers?" Sirius suggested, looking forlornly at his potions books, which he had decided to flick through to get a head start. It may have seemed a bit unlike him, but having failed potions every single year he had decided that this year would be the year he would one –up Slughorn, and actually pass his class.

"We should have known better- I can hear her now 'I'm not going to help you cheat James, if you ask me again I'll report you.'" He did a bad, high-pitched impression.

"You should have seen it coming, mate. Maybe this year you'll get lucky with her, eh?" Sirius grinned, running a hand through his messy dark locks.

"I can try," James snatched the potions book from Sirius, "You have no chance, you've failed it every year."

"This year'll be different, just you wait."

* * *

They had made their way down the narrow, crowded streets of Diagon Alley to stop at another shop, this one adorned with purple paint. There was a small purple sign above the door with 'Madame Malkin's robe shop' painted on it in white.

Dumbledore gestured for Kagome to enter, and he didn't follow her into the store, "I will be back soon, I have some business I need to attend to."

Kagome nodded and walked into the store, absent-mindedly looking around the store. The Hogwarts uniform, she noted, was very different to the one she wore in Japan. Their skirts were longer, they had jumpers and robes. Gone was the thin white shirt and ridiculously short green skirt, instead their uniform was grey, and you got a tie from whichever house you were placed in later.

"Can I help you, dear?" A kind looking woman asked, she must not have been older than forty, with some wrinkles and a few grey hairs amongst her shoulder-length brown hair.

"Yes please, I need some robes for Hogwarts," Kagome smiled.

"Okay, dear. Could you try this on for me?" The woman smiled, handing her a full set of the uniform.

Kagome nodded and went to the back room to change, coming out a few minutes later wearing the full set. Looking at herself in a mirror, she decided she much preferred this to her old uniform.

* * *

 **Please leave a review, they really keep me motivated to post updates sooner!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 5**

Dumbledore arrived back only minutes later, to find Madame Malkin had finished making her alterations to Kagome's uniform. He paid her too, with fifty gallons, three sickles, and eleven knuts. Not that Kagome knew what those were, she just assumed it was magical money, something she did not have.

"I shall have the school provide you an owl so you can communicate with your family," Dumbledore told her, the two of them finding themselves back onto the bustling street.

"An owl?" Kagome frowned.

"An owl. Most magical communications are sent via owl," Dumbledore explained vaguely, stopping in front of another store, "Now, Miss Higurashi, do you require a pet?"

Kagome raised an eyebrow, "I have a cat."

"Will you be bringing your cat to Hogwarts?" He asked.

"No," She shook her head, "I don't think it would be a good idea to get Buyo to come here, he's a rather lazy cat."

Dumbledore smiled, "I see. Miss Higurashi, you're going to need some sort of animal, all first years have them. Since the school will provide you with an owl, you should come into Magical Menagerie," He suggested, pointing at a finger at the shop in front of them.

Kagome tilted her head in confusion, 'Why would we even need a pet? I feel like I'm understanding less and less about the magical world as the day goes on.' She thought.

She pushed the forest green door to the shop open and immediately her senses were assaulted. The smell was almost overpowering, it made her wrinkle her nose and shake her head. The store itself was very cramped, with cages lining the walls, full of exotic creatures. Kagome's eyes widened as she spotted what appeared to be a red and blue speckled crab, there were lizards, crabs, and even tarantulas at the front part of the store. As she made her way down the aisle of the store, she started to see cats of various colours.

The cats 'meowed' in excitement, seeing somebody come so close to their cages, some of them even coming to the edge of their cages to try to see her better. Kagome met their curious gazes with a smile, she had become somewhat of a dog person, after spending a year with Inuyasha, but the adorable feline's still had a special place in her heart. She paused in her stride as she spotted an unusual-looking cat. It had soft, orange fur and the most striking emerald eyes.

Dumbledore smiled as he noticed the Higurashi girl finally pause in her walk to reach out for an orange cat, "Is this the one?"

Kagome nodded, transfixed by the cat's eyes, "She reminds me of someone," She whispered. The eyes of the cat instantly reminded her of Shippou, the small fox demon with unruly ginger hair and sparkling emerald eyes that regarded her as his mother.

Dumbledore nodded, not really listening to her quiet mutterings. "Miss Higurashi will take this cat," He said, talking to a witch wearing heavy-rimmed dark spectacles, who was sitting behind the desk.

"Of course, Sir," The witch smiled, pulling the cage from the top shelf, "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"No, I am quite alright for the time being," Dumbledore paid yet again, and turned his attention to Kagome, "Have you any idea what you're going to name her?"

Kagome beamed, "I've already decided. Her name is Kitsune,"

* * *

"Prongs, mate. If I can get into that Slug Club party thing at Christmas, then Slughorn is _morally obligated_ to pass me," Sirius explained his plan to finally pass his potions class.

"Blimey, you think you're bright enough to get in?" James teased.

"Obviously not, I wouldn't be failing the class otherwise. I mean, if I can find a way to get into his annual Christmas party, he'll pass me for sure," Sirius grinned.

James smirked back at him, "You'd have to get yourself a date then, or sneak in."

"Oh, that'd be no problem, have you _seen_ the way girls look at me? Hey, doesn't Evans go to Slug Club?"

"Sirius there is no fucking way you're going to be able to get Lily to take you there, you're off your rocker," James laughed.

"I'll find a way," Sirius nodded.

* * *

"Well, Miss Higurashi, it is time for us to apparate back to the shrine," Dumbledore nodded at the girl, who was struggling to maintain a grip on her cat, the bag of robes and the box with her wand in it.

She slowly moved Kitsune's cage to her right hand, gripping her robes bag, the cat's cage and her wand box precariously as she put her right hand on Dumbledore's arm.

"I'm so sorry," Kagome muttered to her new cat, grimacing as she thought of what was to come.

"Are you ready, Miss Higurashi?"

"Yes professor," Kagome replied.

Everything was black for a brief second, before the overwhelming feeling of dizziness that she felt earlier returned. This time, though, she placed her thoroughly dazed cat on the ground, so that she could take her time to breathe and open her eyes, even though everything still appeared to be spinning.

She sighed deeply, and took a second to let her senses adjust after the horrible experience that was apparation. Within seconds, she had stopped seeing double, and her vision had gone back to normal. She could feel herself stop swaying so that she could stand properly. When her senses were finally back to their normal capacity, she looked around to see that Dumbledore had 'apparated' them to the very top of the shrine stairs.

He smiled at her, "I shall have the owl sent over tomorrow, perhaps I should come then to help you start to use your wand. Seeing as you are, in fact, a minor, you are not permitted to perform magic outside of Hogwarts."

"So, you use a wand to channel your magic through?" She asked.

"Yes, Miss Higurashi. Wandless magic proves to be difficult for most witches and wizards, and seeing as you are our guest at Hogwarts, until Voldemort is defeated, it seems only proper we teach you our kind of magic, too." Dumbledore nodded.

"Thank you, professor," Kagome smiled.

"You are most welcome, Miss Higurashi," With a wave of his wand, he was gone.

The second Dumbledore had disappeared from the shrine yard, her mother came rushing out to meet her, "Oh, Kagome, how was it?"

"The magical world is very different to Japan, or the Feudal Era," She remarked.

"Is that a cat?" Satsuke raised an eyebrow.

"Dumbledore said that a pet was a requirement at Hogwarts, which is something I'll never understand. Meet Kitsune, I didn't really think Buyo would be able to make the journey over to England," Kagome said sheepishly.

"Well, Kagome, she's very beautiful. As long as you take good care of her I'm sure it'll all be fine," Satsuke smiled softly, "Why don't you bring her inside and we'll see what Buyo makes of her?"

* * *

 **Please review, they help keep me motivated to pre-write chapters so that the updates can keep coming. I love reading your reviews, even if it's a simple "I like this story" it still helps!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 6**

"Uh, Kagome?" Souta called out, nervously stepping around the small ginger cat that had invaded their living room.

"Yeah?" Kagome said nonchalantly, not even looking up from her reading of the book 'Hogwarts: A History', that Dumbledore had given her on his first visit.

"Did- did you notice the cat? Is it _supposed_ to be here?" He asked, looking curiously at the cat that was starting to climb onto the sofa, making its way into Kagome's lap with a gentle 'purr'.

"Of course, she is, Souta. This is Kitsune. She's my Hogwarts cat," She explained, a small smile playing on her face.

"Oh, right," Souta anxiously reached out to the cat, lightly placing his hand on her soft orange fur, starting to stroke her affectionately, "What does Buyo think?"

"He's avoiding her like the plague," Kagome huffed, "I hoped they would get along better, but Kitsune isn't going to be here for long, she's coming with me to Hogwarts until Voldemort is gone."

Souta looked down, immediately disheartened at the thought of Kagome leaving him so soon after he got her back, "How long will that be?"

She shook her head, her blue eyes meeting his sorrowful brown ones, "I don't know, Souta," She whispered.

* * *

By this point, James and Sirius were both overcome with a sense of dread as they realised just how close school was.

"Three days, that's all we have left," James sighed.

"I'm glad I got to spend the summer here rather than in my house," Sirius confessed, wrinkling his nose in distaste as he thought of his family home.

"Do you reckon Lily will finally realise her undying love for me this year?" James smirked.

"Not a chance, Prongs. In your dreams, maybe," Sirius snorted.

* * *

The night came and went quickly for Kagome, who was gradually easing back into a sleeping routine. When she came back from the void, she could barely sleep at all. Visions of the horrors she had seen in the final battle haunted her, the perpetual feeling of floating endlessly was more than enough to make her feel sick.

She spent three days in the void. Three days felt like an eternity, before the jewel decided she was needed elsewhere and mysteriously dropped her inside the well. It hurt so much, knowing she had finally defeated Naraku, just to lose the family she had made along the way. She would never understand, and she didn't want to. The less time she spent thinking about the malicious jewel settled between her collarbones, the better. Before Kikyo died, she promised her that she would look after Kohaku's shard and to stop the completed sacred jewel from falling into Naraku's hands. And she did.

Now, she had to stop 'Voldemort', who was starting to sound a lot like Naraku, from taking the jewel from her. All it caused everyone was pain, but until she thought of a 'pure' wish, she knew she couldn't get rid of it. That thought scared her beyond belief.

Just as her mind started to take her back to the memories of the battlefield where they fought Naraku, killing some of Kouga's wolves and anyone not strong enough to face off against Naraku, a small scratching noise from the other side of her door stole her attention. The door opened slowly, her small newly purchased orange kitten stepping inside. It was as if she had sensed Kagome's sadness.

Kagome swung her legs over the edge of her bed to pick up the small cat, cradling Kitsune in her arms as she made her way downstairs, sunlight pouring in through the kitchen window.

"Good morning," Kagome yawned, greeting her mother.

"Good morning Kagome, is Souta up?" She asked with a smile.

Kagome poked her head around the door to the living room, "No, he must still be asleep."

Satsuke sat down at the table and motioned for Kagome to sit at the chair opposite her, which she did.

"Kagome," She started, taking her daughter's hand, "I know you have been through a lot, trying to balance school and saving the world for a year, and I just want you to know how proud I am of you. I am so, so sorry you have to get wrapped up in all this magic business. And I am sorry I didn't tell you about Hinata, your Father, earlier. I didn't believe him and even if I did, I wouldn't know what to tell you," She sighed.

"I love you, Mama," Kagome whispered.

"Your Father would have been so proud of you. I want you to have fun, we'll write to you all the time. I'm sure your Grandfather will send you all-sorts of things he thinks you'll need. How did you say we send letters again?" Satsuke asked.

"Via owl, Mama. The school will send an owl here today, all you have to do is give it the letter, and it 'knows' it's way back to Hogwarts," Kagome smiled, the idea of giving an owl your mail had been difficult for her to wrap her head around, and Dumbledore's vague explanation hadn't exactly been helpful.

Mrs Higurashi hummed in response, "I hope you like it there, at least. I hate to send you away but it's for your own protection. I couldn't bear keeping you here, where none of us can protect you from that vile man."

Kagome nodded sadly, "There's so many power hungry people that just want to get the jewel. When this is over, when he's gone, I'm never letting anything else tear us apart again." She gave her mother's hand a tight squeeze of reassurance.

* * *

Albus looked at his enchanted watch, designed to tell him the time in whatever country he asked it to. It was a reasonable time in Japan, he supposed. He took a second to pick up a black, leather-bound book, and the cage of the dark brown owl he promised the school would provide for her. With a quick flick of his wand, he found himself, yet again, at the top of the stone steps at the Higurashi shrine.

This time, Kagome had seen him apparate into the yard, and was ready, "Mama?"

"Yes, Kagome?" Her mother smiled, looking up from cleaning the dishes.

"Professor Dumbledore is here, he's got an owl with him," She noted.

Satsuke frowned, "What does he want?"

"To teach me to channel my magic through a wand. Wandless magic is apparently not common there, and I'm five years behind everyone else in magical school," Kagome sighed, "What if they have math there too?" She gasped in horror.

Satsuke just laughed at her daughter's aversion to mathematics.

Kagome shook her head, trying desperately to rid herself of the thought of learning algebra in a magic school as she went to answer the door, "Professor Dumbledore," She greeted with a smile.

"Ah, Miss Higurashi. Here is the owl, his name is Aaral," The bird squawked as it recognised its name, and as Albus placed the cage onto their kitchen table, "He will deliver your letters come September first."

"What's that, Professor?" Kagome asked, looking curiously at the black book in his hand.

"I was just getting to that, Miss Higurashi. This book," He held it up, "Is a spell book. Today, since you will be practicing learning spells you'll need for your basic skills to develop, you won't need to use it. You should, however, bring it to Hogwarts to start practicing spells to catch up with your peers."

Kagome nodded, "We have a larger yard around the back of the house, nobody would see us practicing there."

"Lead the way, Miss Higurashi."

Kagome quickly grabbed her wand from the kitchen table, which was where she left it the previous night when she returned from her shopping trip to Diagon Alley. As Kagome and Dumbledore walked to the back yard of the shrine, Satusuke looked at the owl carefully.

"This house is turning into a zoo," She remarked quietly.

* * *

 **Please leave a review, they keep me motivated to write chapters. I love hearing your theories and suggestions about what may happen next!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 7**

Kagome smiled as they arrived at the larger yard located at the back of the shrine. It was hidden by trees that surrounded the property, the remnants of the once colossal 'Inuyasha's Forest'.

Dumbledore, by now, had pulled out his wand, which Kagome noted was larger and more ornate than hers.

"Well, Miss Higurashi, how about we start with the basics?"

She nodded, "I've never done anything like this before."

"It should all come naturally to you with a little practice. I've never before met a witch that learnt wandless magic before even touching a wand." Dumbledore mused.

"I'm not a witch, I'm a priestess," Kagome reminded him.

"Ah, yes. But, for all intents and purposes, at Hogwarts, you are a witch. I implore you, Miss Higurashi, not to tell a soul about the jewel around your neck. Slytherin's are known to have family members that work with Voldemort himself," Dumbledore explained ominously.

Kagome understood, having now read 'Hogwarts: A History', she could remember what the four houses stood for; Gryffindoor, the brave; Slytherin, the cunning (the house had silently become synonymous with evil over the years, which Kagome didn't understand); Ravenclaw, the smart; and Hufflepuff, the kind.

"I understand," She nodded.

"Very well, Miss Higurashi," He paused, "We shall start with something I learnt very early on. _Intent_ is very important in magic, and it is vital that you channel your intentions through the wand when performing a spell."

Kagome understood this, too. It was important when she was learning to form a barrier, or to make an arrow.

"Let us start with the first spell I showed you," He lifted his wand into the air, "Lumos," he said loudly. The tip of his wand started to emit a soft white light. "Channel your intentions through the wand."

Kagome raised her wand, copying his movement, "Lumos," She commanded, staring at the tip of her wand as it started to emit the same soft white light. A smile broke out across her face as she looked up at the professor.

"Well done, Miss Higurashi. I suggest you try the counter-spell now, to turn the light off," Dumbledore praised, "Nox." And with that, the light dissipated.

Kagome mimicked him again, "Nox," She said channeling her energy through the mahogany wand in her hand. The light went out, earning another smile from Kagome.

"Very good, Miss Higurashi. I suggest we move onto some spells you will be learning this year, in defence against the dark arts."

"Of course, Professor," She grinned. Kagome practically felt giddy, knowing that she would in fact be able to do magic, with some more practice of course.

"This spell is a shield spell, with some training it is capable of blocking even the killing curse," He explained, "Protego," He called out, a translucent blue wall appearing before him.

Kagome raised her wand, absentmindedly wondering if her barriers of spiritual energy could do the same, "Protego!" A similar shield to Dumbledore's sprung forth from the tip of the wand, hers being slightly less opaque than his.

"Now, Miss Higurashi. This spell stops, or diminishes _all_ spell effects," He paused, pointing his wand at the shield he had just created, "Finite!" The shield dispersed, as if it had just evaporated.

"Finite," Kagome ordered, watching with wide eyes as her shield, too, just disappeared.

"You're doing exceptionally well, Miss Higurashi. I have no doubts you will easily pick up the rest of the spells. For now, I recommend we try a few charms, and perhaps the patronus charm."

* * *

Sirius looked around, narrowing his eyes as he searched for his air-borne target, "James, where the hell's it gone?"

"Come _on_ , Padfoot, at least try to give me a challenge," The Potter boy smirked.

With a huff, Sirius was scanning the air around the Potter's garden, from his broomstick, with a scowl, deciding to help James practice his role as Gryffindoor's seeker was not his brightest idea, "I can't see it!"

James started laughing manically, holding his palm up to reveal the snitch caught in between his thumb and first finger, "That's because I've had it for the last twenty minutes, mate."

Sirius rolled his eyes, "You know what, I'm going to go for commentator this year, and since I'm McGonagall's favourite she'll let me have it. And let me tell you, when I get the job, I won't be talking you up."

"Pfft, sure," James said, between bouts of laughter.

* * *

In the secluded Black family manor, Bellatrix bowed before the man that her father had declared his allegiance to just a few months prior. The dark lord. Her dark, curly hair hid her eyes from the view of the man she was bowing to.

"Rise," He hissed, and she met his gaze for the first time.

He had blood-shot eyes, and pale, cracking skin, and a face somewhat similar to a snake.

"My Lord," She nodded, taking in an unsteady breath. The man had started out seven years ago, reaching out to pureblood families to join him in his use of the Dark Arts, which she was particularly skilled with, to eradicate muggles, and mudbloods, to purify the magical world.

"Bellatrix Black, daughter of Cygnus and Druella Black, pureblood witch," The dark lord rasped.

"My Lord, I know you have been looking for the sacred jewel for some time now," She paused, strengthening her resolve to seem as loyal to the dark lord as possible, "I know that the raids in Asia have been unsuccessful, but I believe I can help fix that."

"How, child?" He took a step closer, his blue eyes narrowing to slits.

"I was in Diagon Alley yesterday, My Lord. I saw a girl matching the description you gave of the jewel's protector, and she was with Dumbledore." Bellatrix explained, looking to her father before looking back at the dark lord.

"I see, so she shall be attending Hogwarts? I have a special plan for you, Bellatrix Black. The Slytherins that are loyal to me, must also be involved. I _want_ that jewel. Give it to me, and you shall be rewarded greatly. Fail me, and you shall face the consequences," Voldemort hissed threateningly.

"I shall not fail you, My Lord."

* * *

Kagome had been struggling with one spell in particular, 'the patronus charm' Dumbledore called it.

"I find it best to think of a happy memory, and channel it through the wand," Dumbledore remarked.

Kagome nodded, having seen Dumbledore's magnificent Pheonix patronus several times already, she felt mildly put out that this was the only spell she couldn't do. She thought this time of the last time her and her second family had been together before the final battle. The group was settled under the Sacred Tree, Kirara and Shippou were running around, the small fox demon was laughing as he ran from her, Inuyasha was being friendly for once, and Sango and Miroku were sitting peacefully. That was the last time, before that battle, that she truly spent time with them.

A lone tear spilled down her face as she thought about them, and as she opened her eyes to wipe it away, blue wisps started coming out of her wand, forming a mighty dog, which was bounding around the shrine yard.

Dumbledore smiled, "Very well done, Kagome. I'm confident you'll adapt to Hogwarts well. It is getting late, I should be going. Remember, you can't use magic outside of Hogwarts, I will be seeing you again in three days."

"Goodbye, Professor," She waved, as he gave his wand a 'swish', and disappeared from the yard.

* * *

 **Please review, it really keeps me motivated. What's your** **patronus? Mine is an Ocicat, apparently. They're quite cute, but they're not exactly the most epic animals ever. Warning: There will be a time skip for the next chapter, it will take place the day before she goes to Hogwarts.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 8**

The Higurashi household barely slept that night. Aaral, Kagome's owl, had been 'who'ing all night. It was driving her Grandfather mad, to the point where he would threaten to use one of his 'sacred sutras' on the poor owl, who was just getting used to his surroundings.

Kagome sat on the edge of her bed, Kitsune curled up in her lap, as she wondered what the future would hold. She would be going to a _School of Magic_ of all things, tomorrow.

A small knock on her bedroom door distracted her from her petting of Kitsune, causing the cat to meow, which Kagome interpreted as the cat's way of telling her to keep stroking her.

"Come in," Kagome said.

Her brother walked into the room glumly, sitting on the bed next to her, "I'm gonna miss you, you know."

Kagome wrapped one arm around his shoulders, "I'll write all the time, Souta. I'll miss you too. I'll tell you all about it, I promise."

"It's not fair you get to go to a magic school and I have to stay here while you're off on another adventure," He pouted.

"Hey, maybe you'll get into magic school when you're eleven," She smiled.

"Whoa! That's be so cool, I'd be a wizard," He gave her a toothy grin, imagining himself slaying a dragon.

"Yeah, you would. You'll be good for Mama and Grandfather while I'm gone, won't you?" Kagome asked him.

"I will," He replied leaning his head on her shoulder.

* * *

"Tomorrow's the day, Padfoot," James grinned, pushing his glasses further up his nose.

Sirius just laughed, "Are you sure you really want to go through with it?"

"Sirius, you were there. You _heard_ what Snivellus called Lily at the end of last year, he more than deserves it," James seethed, recalling Snape rejecting Lily's help and calling her a 'mudblood' of all things.

"You're right mate, give him hell," Sirius agreed with a nod.

"So I shall," James replied, a wolfish grin settling on his face as he thought about what he could do to the boy tomorrow.

* * *

"Kagome, dear, I have your trunk," Satsuke called from downstairs.

Kagome stood up with a confused look on her face, prompting Kitsune to jump off her lap, and Souta to leave her room. She made her way downstairs slowly, eyeing the trunk at the bottom of the stairs with some suspicion.

"What's that, Mama?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's your trunk for Hogwarts. It just appeared there, this morning, it has a note," Her mother paused, rummaging around in the kitchen to find it, passing it to her daughter, "Here it is."

Kagome read it with a small smile on her face.

 _Dear Miss Higurashi,_

 _I have had your belongings sent over to you a day in advance so you can take a look at the material you will be covering this year. I will arrive at your house at ten thirty am, please be dressed in your robes and ready to apparate._

 _Please note that bringing your owl isn't necessary, Aaral can fly back on his own when your family provides him with a letter._

 _I will apparate with you to King's Cross Station, where you shall board the Hogwarts Express at platform nine and three quarters. To access this platform, you need to run into the wall between platforms nine and ten._

 _You shall be sorted with the first years, though it is not necessary for you to join them in going over the lake._

 _From there, you will go to your dormitory, for whichever house you are placed in, and begin lessons the next day. You will be assigned a guide to help you learn your way around school. I advise that you practice spells somewhere that you won't disturb your peers. I found that your common room, or on the outskirts of the forbidden forest work best._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Albus Dumbledore_

Kagome smiled at her mother, "If you send the owl a letter after I've gone he will come to Hogwarts, and I'll write back."

"Oh, Kagome," Her mother enveloped her in a hug.

"Mama, I'll be fine," She whispered into her mother's neck.

"I know you will, you're so strong. But that still won't stop me from worrying," Satsuke explained softly, "Now, let's see what you have in this trunk."

Kagome, with a quiet grumble, lifted the heavy lid of the trunk. Inside, was more books, a dark metal pot that she assumed must be a cauldron, 'all witches have those, right?' she mused, and a maroon velvet pouch, which she picked up.

Undoing the drawstrings, she smiled as she noticed the bag was full of the 'magical money' that Dumbledore used in Diagon Alley. She carefully put it back in the trunk and stood up to face her mother, "Professor Dumbledore is very generous," She said.

Satsuke nodded, though she was confused by the bizarre golden coins.

"I'm going to go talk to Grandpa," Kagome said, walking slowly out of the front door and into the front yard of the shrine, "Grandpa?" She called out.

"Kagome!" The old man said excitedly, stopping in his sweeping of the shrine grounds to walk up to his Granddaughter.

She hugged him, "I leave tomorrow morning."

"I am so proud, Kagome. You have become a very skilled priestess, and the jewel you guard is a most powerful object. I will send you some of my sacred sutras by _owl_ every time we write to you so that you can be safe from any dangers in that place," He smiled brightly, still blindly unaware that his sutras had never hurt a fly.

"I'll look forwards to it, Grandpa," Kagome grinned back at him, relishing the time she had with him while it lasted.

"That damned cat has been crawling around the well house again!" Grandpa Higurashi screeched, relinquishing his hold on her to point accusingly at Buyo, who was lazily wandering out of the building in question.

Kagome smiled sadly, remembering how her adventures started. 'With Buyo in the well house,' she thought, absentmindedly touching her side, the place the centipede demon bit her, revealing the shikon jewel to the world, "There's no point trying to stop him, Grandpa. Buyo does what he wants."

Her grandfather started to whine comically, "But the sutras should have stopped him from getting in there in the first place."

"There, there," She patted him reassuringly on the back, "I'm sure they'll work at Hogwarts. Maybe it's just because there isn't enough magic here."

He lit up at that thought, "Yes, Kagome, that must be it!"

* * *

 **Next chapter is going to be longer, with part of her first day at Hogwarts. Please review, they really keep me motivated to write, I really do love reading them!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 9**

Sleep didn't come easily to Kagome that night. It was difficult for her to settle, knowing that she would be in a school of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the morning. The thought that she would have to leave her family behind for an undisclosed amount of time made her feel annoyed, as it was supposed to.

But she couldn't help her traitorous thoughts from swarming her mind, 'There nobody will know me as Kikyo's copy, there nobody will expect me to be able to protect a powerful jewel that grants wishes because nobody will _know_.' The idea that the students of Hogwarts wouldn't have any previous assumptions of what she would and wouldn't be able to do made her smile subconsciously. In this new school, maybe she could be just Kagome Higurashi.

Her mother walked into her room at eight am, a sad smile etched onto her kind face, "Kagome, dear, I think it's time you get up."

"Good morning, Mama," Kagome returned her smile with one of her own.

"Souta and Grandpa are already awake, come downstairs," Satsuke said softly, her smile widening as she noticed the small orange cat her daughter had grown quite fond of curled up against her chest.

Kagome nodded, carefully lifting Kitsune into her arms as she followed her mother down the stairs. "Good morning," She yawned, talking to her Grandfather and Souta, who were sat around the kitchen table.

Souta immediately stood up to hug her, "I'll write as often as I can, and when I'm eleven, I'm going to be a wizard just like you."

Kagome wrapped her arms around her younger brother, "I'll miss you, squirt."

"You're my hero," He whispered, just for her to hear.

The Higurashi siblings split apart, taking their seats at the kitchen table.

"Remember to have breakfast," Satsuke reminded her daughter, pointing at a plate of toast she had made her.

Kagome quickly took the plate, taking only a few minutes to eat the stack of toast her mother had presented her with.

"Kagome, we don't have long left together. I want you to know we are all so proud of you, my beautiful, brave daughter," Satsuke paused, reaching out to hold Kagome's hand, "I hope you have some fun there, and I truly am sorry about your friends. I know they were important to you, dear, but seeing you cry makes my heart ache. Never forget them, but don't forget to enjoy life, they would have wanted that."

Kagome nodded, brushing away hot tears that she hadn't realised had fallen from her eyes, "They would be proud of me too, I know they would."

They talked like that for another hour and a half, the entire Higurashi family just relishing in each other's presence, before Kagome would leave.

"I should get ready," Kagome sighed, "Professor Dumbledore will be here in an hour, and I need to check I have everything."

Satsuke nodded, "Your uniform is in your room."

Another ten minutes later, and Kagome came down the stairs slowly, dressed in the compulsory grey Hogwarts robes, without the usual tie around her neck, as she hadn't been sorted yet.

"Oh, Kagome," Her mother whispered, suddenly teary-eyed at the sight of her daughter in the Hogwarts uniform.

"I know, Mama. Their uniform is quite different to ours," Kagome laughed, thinking of the standard short green skirt she used to wear, even to her trips in the past.

"He'll be here for you soon, have you double-checked your trunk?" Satsuke asked, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Of course I have, Mama." Kagome replied softly, placing her hand lightly on her mother's shoulder to reassure her. Kagome picked her wand off the kitchen table and put it in her pocket, not wanting to leave it in her suitcase.

She stayed there, in a comfortable silence, with her family for a while, until a knock on the door interrupted them.

Kagome answered the door, smiling sadly up at the headmaster, who was wearing his normal, normal meaning extravagant in this case, robes.

"Miss Higurashi," Dumbledore nodded, "Are you ready to go?"

"I'll just say goodbye to my family," She told him, walking back inside. Kagome was instantly smothered by a 'family hug'. She whispered to them, "I love you so much."

"We love you too, Kagome." Her mother responded, rubbing soothing circles onto her daughter's back.

"Have fun sis, tell me all about it," Souta grinned, though his smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

"And remember, use my sacred sutras if you see any demons!" Her Grandfather yelled.

Kagome smiled, "I love you," She said, walking over to her trunk, where she had Kitsune in her cage, after Souta managed to coax her inside. She picked up the trunk, holding the cage and the trunk with one hand, which she managed.

"Shall we go, Miss Higurashi?" She could see the twinkle in his eyes again.

"Yes, Professor," She nodded, putting her hand on his arm, "Goodbye, I love you!" She smiled, looking at her family before darkness clouded her vision.

* * *

"Come on, Sirius," James sighed, urging his friend to hurry up, as they were almost at the platform.

"Mate, you made me carry our supply of dung-bombs, and fireworks. They are _heavy_ , James," The boy in question huffed, hauling his trunk up to platform nine and three quarters. He paused for a second, tapping James on the shoulder, "Prongs? Is that Dumbledore?"

James frowned, "What's he doing here, he never comes on the express?"

"Beats me," Sirius shrugged.

* * *

Kagome blinked away the darkness, the pressure on her chest that she felt every time she apparated soon dissipated.

"Platform nine and three quarters is over there, Miss Higurashi," Dumbledore pointed at a brick wall.

"I just run into the wall, don't I?" She asked, picking up her trunk and Kitsune's cage.

"Of course, Miss Higurashi. Stay with your year and cross the bridge, but you will be expected to join the first years for their sorting," He told her, "Goodbye, Miss Higurashi." And with a flick of his wand, he had disappeared from King's Cross train station.

Kagome muttered under her breath, looking with weary eyes at the wall she was supposed to run into, "Why couldn't they have just made a door?"

She looked down at Kitsune, who was still looking slightly dazed after the dizzying apparation trip. With a deep breath, Kagome ran at the wall, with closed eyes. Even before she opened them, she could tell something was different – that the place on the other side of the wall was magical.

She opened her eyes, a smile spreading across her face as she took it all in. The platform itself was bustling with Hogwarts students and their families. The train was magnificent, a bright red with the words 'Hogwarts Express' painted neatly along its side in gold.

* * *

 **So, next chapter will be the train journey and potentially the sorting! Please review, they keep me motivated to write!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 10**

Kagome boarded the train with a relatively small amount of hassle. She seemed to be pretty early, so finding an empty carriage wasn't difficult. She sat there, Kitsune now out of her cage and curled up on Kagome's lap. She could hear more and more people start to board the train, it was only really a matter of time until somebody decided to come into her carriage.

" _All aboard the Hogwarts Express, we will be leaving in five minutes,"_ A loud voice rung out throughout the train, making Kagome wonder if they used speakers here, or just magic. Outside her compartment, she could hear people bustling around, until she heard the inevitable, "Oh, Mary, I think there's a free one here!"

Four girls burst into her compartment, startling Kitsune. There was a girl with long red hair that looked rather sheepish about it, the blonde immediately left to try to find another compartment, only to be dragged back in by one of the two brunettes.

"Oh, sorry," The redhead blushed, "Do you mind if we sit here?"

Kagome shook her head, stroking Kitsune to calm her down.

"I'm Lily, by the way," The girl introduced herself.

"I'm Kagome," She smiled.

"That's Dorci," She pointed at the blonde who waved shyly, "That's Mary," She pointed at the brunette who had shoulder-length hair and deep brown eyes, "And that is Alice." Alice was the prettier of the two brunettes, her hair was longer, it came to halfway down her back, with natural light brown highlights in it, and a kind face.

"So, Ka-Kagome?" Mary tested the foreign name on her tongue, "I don't think I've seen you before, what year are you in?"

"Sixth year," She answered with a smile.

"Really? Us too," Mary said, wide-eyed.

Kagome nodded, "I'm a transfer, from Japan."

Lily smiled at the raven-haired girl, "What's it like there?"

Kagome paused, "Japan is very different to your country, especially the part of Japan I come from. In the part of Japan I come from we are very religion orientated, and your country isn't as religious as mine. Also, your uniform is very different to what I used to have to wear."

Mary, ever curious, shuffled closer, "What's Japanese uniform like, then?"

"If it doesn't leave half your ass hanging out is it even a school skirt?" Kagome muttered, envisioning the ridiculously short offending item.

Lily and Mary laughed together, "What house do you want to be in, Kagome?" Lily asked.

"I don't know yet," Kagome answered, although silently she was thinking 'not slytherin', that house would be particularly dangerous for her, as Dumbledore mentioned that some of the students had ties to Voldemort.

"We're all Gryffindor," Alice told her quietly, it seemed to Kagome that she and the blonde, Dorci, were rather shy.

* * *

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the train, Bellatrix was arguing with the blond Malfoy boy her sister had taken an interest in.

"Lucius, the Dark Lord _himself_ gave us a mission. We have to find the girl and get him that jewel," She hissed, brushing a strand of her curly hair behind her pierced ear.

"Bella, you're being rash. We don't even know the girl's name, you could have been _wrong."_ He replied coldly.

"And what if I'm not? I won't fail him, I can't!"

"You're delusional," He snarled confrontationally.

Bellatrix rose to the challenge, pointing her wand at him, "Are you not loyal to him, Lucius? Are you not prepared to do anything for him?"

"I'm saying, Bella, that there may be no need. What if you're wrong? Or better yet, what if we don't have to bother? She could be in Slytherin."

A wicked smile spread across her face at that thought, "If I can sway her to our cause- the Dark Lord will reward me greatly," She paused for a second, the thought of gaining his approval made her laugh manically, until she stopped suddenly, "I'm going to find her."

* * *

" _The train will now leave the station,"_ The deep voice called out through the train yet again, and the train jerked forwards, starting their journey to Hogwarts.

"What's Hogwarts like?" Kagome asked Mary, who she had discovered was Gryffindor's resident chatterbox.

"Oh, you'll love it. I don't know what Japan was like, but I'm sure this will be ten times better! There's ghosts- Oh, watch out for Peeves, he's a poltergeist. The lessons are alright, though the DADA job is supposedly cursed, we have a new teacher every year. I don't think you should get too close to the lake, there's a giant squid in there, and it isn't very friendly. There's a big rivalry between us and the snakes, god, I hope you're not in Slytherin," She rambled.

"What're the people like?" Kagome was quite curious, these girls were quite different to her friends from Japan, she had grown apart from Eri, Ayumi and Yuka, who were never all that close to her anyway.

"Oh, the snakes are _all_ death eaters, You-Know-Who's workers. My Mom says that there's not a bad witch or wizard that wasn't from Slytherin. Hufflepuffs are kind, they're all happy people. Ravenclaws are smart, they're usually the people who do best in class. And us, the Gryffindors, are brave. We're arguably the best house," Mary gushed, it was clear that she was very proud to be a Gryffindor.

Kagome nodded, not sure whether she would keep talking or not.

"Oh, watch out for the 'Marauders' as they call themselves," Mary sighed.

"The Marauders?" Kagome frowned.

Lily interrupted, "James Potter, our seeker; Sirius Black; he likes to think of himself as a 'rebel'; Remus, he's sweet, and very smart; and Peter, he's kinda quiet, I don't know him that well."

"James has been trying to get with Lily since first year," Mary whispered to Kagome, ignoring the half-hearted glare that Lily was giving her.

"They're annoying, they break all the rules and have caused _so_ much destruction," Lily rolled her eyes.

"Maybe, but at least they're in Gryffindor," Mary laughed.

* * *

Bellatrix stormed down the train aisle, Lucius, Severus, Rabastan Lestrange and Evan Rossier behind her. She was going from compartment to compartment, hunting for the girl she had seen in Diagon Alley with Dumbledore days earlier.

That was, at least, until they got to the Gryffindor compartments. Bellatrix pushed the door open, looking around the compartment to find her cousin and his gang of Gryffindors.

"Bella, cousin dearest, do you want something?" Sirius grinned, spotting Severus at the back of her posse of 'future death eaters', "Oh, and Snivellus too, what a surprise."

She wrinkled her nose in disgust, as far as she was concerned, he was a blood traitor and didn't deserve to have the 'Black' surname. "Sirius," She growled.

James immediately stood up, his hand on his wand as he glared at Severus, who was standing behind Lucius, an older Slytherin.

"You're a disgrace to the Black family name," She spat venomously.

He smirked at her, "And I'm damn proud of it."

She turned on her heel and moved onto the next compartment, the rest of the Slytherins following her behind her.

* * *

" _We are now approaching Hogwarts, please be prepared to exit the train."_

Kagome smiled, "Woah, we're nearly here already," Out of the window, she could see the mighty structure that was the Hogwarts castle.

* * *

 **Please review, reading them really motivates me!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 11**

The train stopped suddenly, the doors to the carriages springing open the second that the train stopped.

Kagome sighed, they had to leave their luggage in the train and it would be sent to their dorms, this included pets, which left Kitsune confused as Kagome followed Mary, Alice, Dorci and Lily off the train.

A large man, that Kagome guessed would be about nine feet tall, was calling out to the first year students, "First years this way, t'wards the boats!"

The smaller students rushed out of the train, following the giant man, presumably to cross the lake.

"Come on, Kagome," Lily tapped the girl on her shoulder, encouraging her to walk with them. They walked to a path in the forest, where empty carriages, pulled by the most daunting looking horses Kagome had ever seen awaited. She almost wanted to ask, but since none of the other girls even acknowledged their existence, she thought it might just be a regularity of the magical world, and that she would look stupid asking, though they did pique her curiosity.

When they got off the carriages, Kagome walked at Lily's side, glancing back to take a look at the demonic-looking horses, before turning around to take in the stunning architecture of the castle with wide eyes, the castle truly was beautiful, and a very fitting place for a magical school.

"This way is the way to the great hall," Lily told her, "It's where we eat, and where the sorting ceremony is held."

Professors lined the hallway, their eagle eyes watching the student's every move. Kagome met the searching gaze of a female professor, who was dressed in green robes, with a matching hat.

The woman strode out into the crowd of students, gesturing for Kagome to follow her.

"Lily, I'll see you later, thank you for your help! I'm getting sorted with the first years," She explained, following the professor to the side of the hall.

"Miss Higurashi, I am Professor McGonagall, the deputy headmistress of Hogwarts. I trust you are well aware, then, that you will be sorted with the first years?" The older woman asked, her extravagant pointy hat doing little to hid the greying hairs that framed her face.

Kagome nodded, "How do they sort us?"

The professor smiled, "Well, you'll have to wait and see, won't you?" She paused, spotting a crowd of first year students return from the lake, some of them noticeably soaked, "The first years are here, could you please get in the line, Miss Higurashi?"

Kagome nodded, standing at the front of the line as the professor opened the grand doors to the great hall with a quick flick of her ornate wand. She lead them through the centre of the hall, where they were practically paraded in front of the other students, just for them to line up at the base of the staff table, which, in front of it, had a wooden stool with a dusty looking hat on it.

Kagome almost gasped in shock as the _hat_ of all things, the brown tattered hat started to sing.

" _There's nothing in your head that the sorting hat can't see._

 _There's never been a smarter hat than me!  
Place me on your head and I'll tell you where you ought to be,_

 _Perhaps it's Gryffindor, where the brave dwell at heart,_

 _Maybe it's Hufflepuff, where loyalty and kindness are,_

 _It could be wise Ravenclaw, if you're smart, there you'll find your kind,_

 _Or perhaps it's Slytherin, where their ambition knows no ends,_

 _If you don't know, don't worry, for_

 _A hand I shall lend."_

The hat was awarded with cheers from all of the house tables, for the song it had composed.

"Let the ceremony commence!" Dumbledore shouted, silencing the cheers, "Let me first start with welcoming you, old or new, with a special thanks to our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Lyon, for joining us this year." He paused to allow the students to clap for their new professor, a short man with little remaining hair and quite the spiteful attitude. "I would like to open our sorting ceremony with Kagome Higurashi, our sixth year transfer student from Japan."

Kagome mentally groaned as Professor McGonagall gestured for her to sit on the stool.

* * *

Bellatrix gasped, shaking Lucius out of his daydreaming, "There she is, it's her!" She pointed at the petite Japanese girl sitting on the stool.

Lucius only nodded, noting with a gulp that he could see a poorly concealed purple jewel hanging from her neck.

"I'm not going to fail him, Lucius. And you're going to help me," She demanded, a sinister look in her eyes.

* * *

Professor McGonagall settled the hat on her head, and it immediately felt like her mind was being invaded.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" The sorting hat asked mentally, "Could it be a priestess?"

The feeling reminded her of when Akago, one of Naraku's incarnations, was searching her soul for just a _tiny_ shred of evil that he could use against her, though Kagome could tell the hat's intentions weren't as malicious.

"My, my, you have had some interesting adventures haven't you. Pure of heart, ambition drives you, but no, no, you wouldn't fit in with the Slytherin crowd." It muttered, "Perhaps Ravenclaw? No, you have little desire for knowledge, Hufflepuff? Your kindness knows no bounds, but your bravery is far more sound…" He paused, calling out "GRYFFINDOR!"

Lily cheered, watching the girl she had chatted with on the train get sorted into her house, and walk down the table to come sit next to the only people she knew, Lily, Mary, Alice and Dorci.

"You're a Gryffindor," Lily smiled.

"Yeah," Kagome replied happily, beaming at the girls she met on the train.

* * *

"She's the first transfer the school has had in fifty years," Remus told his friends, who he was very happy to be reunited with after a long summer of barely seeing them.

"I didn't know they had a magic in Japan," James remarked, paying Remus the smallest amount of attention he could, as he was busy staring at a certain redheaded Gryffindor that was sat on the other side of the table.

"Of course they do, James. Are you paying attention?" Remus asked, waving his hand in front of James' face.

Sirius laughed, "Of course he isn't, he's too busy staring at Evans."

James flushed, "Oh shut up, Padfoot."

"As I was saying, James. The Higurashi girl is the first transfer Hogwarts has had in _fifty_ years, that's a big deal," Remus tried to tell him, though it was clear he wasn't getting through to him.

"I don't know why you bother," Peter sighed.

"Why's it a big deal anyway?" Sirius yawned.

Remus rolled his eyes, "Because transfer students are extremely rare. Could you imagine leaving Hogwarts and going to a different school in a different country?"

Sirius shrugged, "I wouldn't want to leave you guys behind," He paused, taking a look at the transfer student.

James turned to him, smirking, "Like what you see, Padfoot?"

It shocked him to receive just a nod instead of one of his usual snarky responses.

* * *

 **Please review, they keep me motivated to keep posting/ writing ! I love reading all your reviews.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 12**

At the end of the dinner, Kagome found herself heading back to the Gryffindor common room with her newly found friends.

"Oh," Lily clicked her fingers, as if she had just remembered something, "The password is 'Astray'."

The five girls walked up a set of stairs, and Kagome stopped in her tracks as she watched a nearby staircase start to move, "That's great," she muttered. She hurried to catch up with the other girls as they approached a painting. It was of a rather plump woman with curly brown hair sitting down, a stern look on her face.

"Password?" The fat lady asked, Kagome bit her lip to stop herself from gasping. Was this what the magical world was like? Talking hats and moving paintings?

"Astray," Lily told her, and stood back with a smile on her face as the painting swung to the side to reveal an entrance.

"Come on, Kagome," Mary beamed, "You can room with us, there's plenty of room in our dorm."

"Thanks, Mary," Kagome said gratefully.

The five girls entered the common room, the portrait swinging closed behind them. The Gryffindor common room was fairly big, with large velvet sofas positioned in front of a lit fire. There were two sets of staircases, leading to the dorms, which were higher up. One was labelled 'boys' and the other 'girls'.

Kagome walked up the stone stairs, looking carefully down a corridor lined with dark oak doors, stone signs positioned above them.

"Our room is the second one," Mary told her, opening the door. Kagome stopped for a second to read the initials engraved in the stone above the door,

'L.E, A.F, M.M, D.M & K.H'

Kagome read it with a smile, wondering how they knew she would share with Lily and Mary, but she chalked it up to magic, at this point, she thought nothing would surprise her.

She saw Kitsune fast asleep in her cage on a bed in the far corner of the room, her trunk positioned at the end of it. As she opened the cage door, Kitsune awoke, meowing in protest at being woken up by the sound of her cage door being opened.

Kagome scooped the small cat into her arms, and turned to Mary.

"We're going back down to the common room, are you coming?" The brunette asked.

Kagome nodded, walking back down the stairs, this time with Kitsune in her arms.

When the Marauders arrived back at their common room, James immediately sought out Lily, who was sitting with her friends and the transfer student on the sofa.

"Lils, I need to talk to you," He said, a begging tone to his voice.

"Okay, James." She sighed, following him to the corner of the common room.

"What do you think he wants?" Mary rolled her eyes.

"Is that the boy you were talking about before?" Kagome asked.

"Yes! He's one of those Marauders. That one over there, with the scar on his face is Remus, the short one is Peter," She pointed at them, "And that one is-"

Sirius immediately noticed Mary pointing him out to the new transfer, and he decided he'd introduce himself, "Hello, ladies," He said, sauntering over to them.

Mary rolled her eyes again, "Hello, Sirius."

"Nice to see you again, Mary. Who's your friend?" Sirius asked with a smirk.

"Kagome Higurashi, nice to meet you," She introduced herself, letting Kitsune wriggle around in her lap.

"Sirius Black, the pleasure's all mine," He grinned.

"Sirius, mate!" James yelled from the corner.

Sirius huffed, "Terribly sorry, Kagome, but duty calls."

* * *

In the Slytherin common room, located deep in the dungeons, the oldest Black daughter was having what could only be described as a 'minor mental breakdown.'

"She's a Gryffindor!" Bellatrix screeched, talking to her band of future death eaters, and her younger sister, Narcissa.

"Calm down, Bella. We'll find a way to get it from her," Lucius grumbled, looking with piercing blue eyes at her.

"I'm going to please the Dark Lord. We don't have time to waste. This is my _last year_ , Lucius! We have to get it from her," Bellatrix was obsessing over the jewel, desperate to prove herself.

"Don't worry, Bella. We have time," Her younger sister soothed.

"We better!" Bellatrix hissed, stressed to the point of nearly ripping her curly locks from her head.

* * *

"James, what was that about?" Sirius said, joining James and Lily in the corner.

"Look, mate. I need you to tell her about the letter you got a few days ago," James said pleadingly.

"Oh, alright. Dear ole mumsey sent me a letter a few days ago. Urging me to renounce Gryffindor and join the snakes, you know, the usual. She told me Bellatrix, my _least favourite_ cousin, had gotten her first mission from You-Know-Who. She said she wanted me, of all people, to help her. Said that Bella's going to be getting the dark mark the second she leaves Hogwarts," Sirius told her in a hushed tone.

"What does this have to do with Severus?" Lily asked with a frown, although she was currently far from friends with the boy, she still wished that he wouldn't be involved with those people.

"It's important because Snivellus was with them, today, on the train. He was with Bellatrix, you _know_ what that means, Lils. He's one of them," James said, running a hand through his messy black hair.

Lily looked away, she really didn't want to think that her ex-best friend would be joining Voldemort's followers, "Did she say what Bellatrix's first mission is?"

"To find something. Merlin knows what," Sirius said quietly.

"Does Dumbledore know?" Lily asked.

Sirius nodded, "Of course he does, I owled Hogwarts the day I got it. He knows by now, I'm sure. But what can he do?"

"Kick her out!" Lily said, throwing her hand in the air in exasperation.

"You _know_ he won't Lily. Half the Slytherins are going to become death eaters. I think he's keeping her here to keep an eye on her," James huffed.

"You did the right thing this time," Lily told them, praising them for once, "I'm going to go back now."

The second Lily was gone, Sirius starting moaning to James.

"Come on, James. I was talking to Kagome!"

James just laughed, "Seems like she's more of a cat person, really." He nodded towards her, as she was playing with the small orange cat in her arms.

Sirius grinned back at him, "She can be persuaded."

* * *

 **Uh oh! I don't think Sirius' 'ladies man' persona is really going to get Kagome. At least not quite yet. Please review, they really inspire me to keep writing.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 13**

Kagome slept peacefully that night, her orange cat curled up with her in the covers of her new bed. She woke up before the other girls in her dorm, and tried not to wake up Kitsune as she scrambled to get dressed and grab her wand. She opened her trunk slowly, retrieving the black, leather-bound spell book that Dumbledore had given her.

He had told her it would be good for her to practice, as she was years behind the rest of her classmates. She thought the common room would probably be empty, so she snuck down the stairs, book and wand in hand.

The fire was roaring, just as it had been the night before. England was colder than Japan, and as the autumn started to set in, the temperature declined. She opened the book, finding the patronus charm again. She stood with her back to the dormitory stairs, facing the fire.

"Expecto Patronum," She whispered, using the same memory of her second family sitting underneath the sacred tree before the final battle. She opened her eyes, seeing the face of a blue translucent dog staring back at her, before it slowly faded away. She smiled to herself, unaware she was being watched.

* * *

James and Sirius had gone out in the early hours of the morning, as they usually did before they were about to perform a prank, to check that the coast was clear, which they would be doing periodically throughout the day.

The two had hidden themselves under the invisibility cloak, and were about to go up the stairs to their room, when they saw Kagome come down the stairs, and start practicing the patronus charm.

Sirius grinned at James from under the cloak, "She already is a dog person, take that, prongs!" He whispered.

"Oh shut up, Padfoot. Let's get back to the dorm."

The two shuffled quietly up the stairs, James muttering under his breath about how his invisibility cloak could only really fit one person under it.

* * *

She had tried a series of counter-curses and small spells, which she did relatively successfully with, until she was interrupted by Lily barrelling down the stairs.

"Kagome!" She paused, "There you are! We've just been dorm to dorm looking for you," Lily told her.

Kagome shook her head, "Sorry, Lily. I would have told you that I came down here to practice spells, but you were all asleep."

"Oh, right," Lily flushed, "We'll go down to the great hall for breakfast soon, people will be starting to come down in the next ten minutes, we should go before the common room gets flooded."

"Okay," Kagome smiled, putting her wand in one of the robe's pockets. She glanced up at the stairs, seeing an excited-looking Mary walking down them, Alice and Dorci following her.

"Let's go," Lily told them, pushing the portrait open so that they could leave the common room.

"It's too early," Alice yawned, speaking quietly as she stumbled into the corridor.

"Ooh," Mary squealed, "Maybe they'll have those enchanted apples for breakfast today!"

Dorci shook her head, "They're practically just covered in sugar."

Mary giggled, "That's what's so good about them!"

The girls had soon made their way down to the great hall, which was near empty, as it was half an hour before breakfast would officially start.

The five girls sat down at the end of the table, chattering amongst themselves.

* * *

"I have the perfect plan," Bellatrix purred, rounding on the sixth year Slytherins that she knew to be loyal to the dark lord, namely Severus, Rabastan and Evan Rossier.

"Which is?" Lucius drawled from his seat next to Narcissa.

"To get Severus to get to her of course," Bellatrix shrugged with a sly smile as if it was the most obvious thing ever.

"What?" Severus interrupted, frowning.

"You're perfect for this. You're in her year, you managed to get Potter's mudblood girl to kiss your ass," She wrinkled her nose in disgust, "Do it again. Get to her- you're bound to have a class together."

"Bellatrix-" He started, folding his arms over his chest in indignation.

"Severus, you do intend to serve our Lord, don't you?" She snapped, reaching for her wand.

"Of course I do."

* * *

Lily was right, within ten minutes, people started pouring into the hall, all talking loudly enough to distract Kagome from the conversation she was having with the girls.

"There are more people here than in my school in Japan," Kagome whispered to herself, looking around at the house tables that were slowly filling up.

The staff had arrived by that point, all of the professors taking their respective places at the staff table, with a clap from Dumbledore the hall flooded with food. All the empty bowls and dishes were full of food that glistened in the light.

Mary took an apple from a dish, squealing with delight as she noticed it was one of the 'sugar covered' ones that Dorci had been so against.

"Those things are so bad for you," Dorci told her sternly.

"And I love them anyway," Mary said in between bites.

"Lily?" Kagome turned to the redhead, who was looking rather concerned.

"They're not here," She told her vaguely, looking around the hall.

"Who's not here?" The raven haired girl asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Potter and his gang, The Marauders."

"So? I thought you didn't like them anyway?" She frowned.

"I'm not overly fond of them, but them being out of sight is worse than them being too close," Lily muttered.

"It's probably nothing," Kagome shrugged it off, recalling that she had already met one of them, Sirius. And he didn't seem as bad as Lily was making them out to be.

"Trust me, Kagome. With them, it's always something," Lily shook her head.

Kagome just raised an eyebrow and withdrew her hand from Lily's shoulder, the girl had left her with more questions than answers and couldn't be more vague if she tried.

"Avis!" A voice from the back of the great hall shouted, hundreds of white doves flying from the back of the hall, causing everyone to turn around. The massive horde of birds blocked the other house tables from Kagome's view, and she could barely see the end of the Gryffindor table, with the amount of doves there were, all flying about in disarray.

"I told you, Kagome!" Lily shouted over the sqwaking.

* * *

 **Please review, they really keep me motivated! Initially, Sirius is attracted to Kagome, but only in his quest to date as many girls as possible. That's going to be changing, with time ;)**


	14. Chapter 14

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!  
**

 **Chapter 14**

The masse of distressed birds made it very difficult for anybody to discern what was happening. Kagome reached for her wand, trying to think of a way to scare the birds away. Perhaps the patronus charm would work?

"Expecto patronum," She said, her voice commanding as wisps of blue energy started to gather together to form the shape of a dog, running around the Gryffindor table.

It worked, the birds were starting to disperse, and flying back out of the door.

As the amount of birds in the room slowly started to drop, Kagome could truly see the chaos the birds had caused. The new DADA professor was casting spells at them, causing the poor animals to become more stressed.

She looked to her right, the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws seemed to survive well, the latter having started to shoo the birds out of the room by summoning seeds to lure them away with.

As she turned to her left, however, the Slytherins didn't appear to be doing so well. It appeared that the birds had only served as a shield to stop people watching them cast jinxes on the Slytherins. Half of the food on their table had mysteriously been replaced with ducks, and several of the benches seemed to have been half-transfigured into ducks, leaving strange, quacking creatures that looked like a duck, but seemed to be made of wood, wandering around the hall. Two girls were unfortunate enough to have their noses transfigured into beaks

Lily just sighed, it was rather like them to pull something like that on their first day of lessons.

"Who did this?" The new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Lyon, roared.

As he started to screech at the students, Sirius and James, followed closely by Remus, who quite frankly looked exhausted, and Peter.

"Look no _feather_ ," Sirius smirked, laughing.

"One hundred points from Gryffindor," Dumbledore announced.

James could only grin, "Just you wait to see what we have planned for tomorrow."

"We had no involvement in this," Remus told him, pointing to himself then Peter.

* * *

"He's your cousin, Bella, can't you control him?" Lucius sighed, having gone back to their common room instead of going straight to their first lesson.

"He's 'Cissy's cousin too, but I don't see you asking _her_ to put a leash on him. We all know that his group doesn't listen to anyone, let alone me. I say we get them back- you saw what he did to Evan's little sister," Bellatrix hissed, referencing the fact that Rossier's younger sister was one of the girls' unfortunate enough to have their noses badly transfigured into beaks, which was quickly undone by a scowling Professor McGonagall.

"She wasn't too happy about that," Evan Rossier told her, glancing over to his sulking sister, who was glowering bitterly in the corner of the common room.

* * *

Lily sighed deeply, it was _so_ like them to pull something like that on the first day and disrupt _everything_ just for the sake of it.

"You okay, Lily?" Kagome asked, smiling at the redhead.

"They always do this. And trust me, it's only getting worse from here," Lily told her, muttering.

"What do we have first?" The raven-haired girl changed the subject, it was clear to her that Lily was already suffering.

"Oh, first we have charms with the Ravenclaws. Did you do those in Japan?"

Kagome shook her head, "Your school is very different from mine."

"I'll show you where it is- we should take a left here. Watch out for the staircases- sometimes they shift and it's difficult to get to class," She said nonchalantly, as she lead Kagome through the hallways.

Kagome groaned, she could only hope the staircases didn't change on her too often, the last thing she needed was to be late at her new school, too.

"Here it is," Lily smiled, pushing open a heavy wooden door, to reveal the classroom, which Kagome noted was moderately bigger than the ones in her old school. There was a chalkboard at the front, and desks lined neatly around the room.

"Take a seat, girls," A very short man with glasses, a large mustache positioned above his upper lip said.

"That's Professor Flitwick," Lily told her, as some more students started to come in, "Come sit next to me."

Once most of the class was there, only a few seats empty, he started to introduce the lesson.

"Welcome back, class. I'm sorry that class won't be as long as usual- but due to the fiasco this morning I will have to cut the class short to help Professor Lyon and McGonagall sort out this mess," He shook his head bitterly.

"Where are they?" Dorci asked Lily, leaning forwards to whisper in her ear.

"Getting told off, probably," Lily sighed.

"For our first lesson, we shall be practicing the colour changing charm," He walked around the classroom, placing white, unlit candles on the oak desks, which were nearly as tall as him.

Flitwick put one on his own desk, "The incantation for it is _Colovaria_ , I want you to change your candle pink, using your wand and your voice to make that clear." He raised his wand to the candle, "Colovaria!" The candle slowly changed, starting from the bottom, to a bright bubblegum pink. "Now, you try."

Kagome looked at Lily, who was also pointing her wand at the candle. She turned her attention back to her own one, staring at it intently as she whispered, "Colovaria," The first time, the candle remained the same, "Colovaria," She said, slightly louder, mentally praying it would change colour. She smiled widely at her own accomplishment as slowly, from the very bottom, a pale pink colour crept up the candle.

Lily smiled at Kagome, having already turned her candle a darker shade of pink.

Dorci leaned over to Lily and Kagome, "Guys, how did you do it?"

Kagome turned to look at Dorci's candle, laughing when she noticed it was a deep blue.

"I tried," The blonde girl shrugged, looking with disappointed eyes at her candle.

"You'll get it eventually," Lily told her.

"Miss Evans, your candle was closest to mine. Fifteen points to Gryffindor!" Flitwick announced, "Ah, class, I have to go help Professor McGonagall de-charm the benches. I advise you start making your way to your second class," He said, letting them leave the room.

* * *

"She sure was mad that time," Peter said, talking about the near hour-long meeting they had been forced to sit through with Professor McGonagall.

Remus huffed, "I can't believe you've done it again- gotten Peter and I in trouble unnecessarily."

"Oh, Moony," James grinned, "You're part of The Marauders, you've got to deal with whatever we get ourselves into."

"Well, at least we'll have time to get to our second class," Remus sighed.

"What is it?" Sirius asked, the four of them walking through the empty hallways.

"You won't like it," Remus warned.

"Oh, tell me. It can't be _that_ bad," Sirius laughed.

"Potions, with the Slytherins."

"I was wrong," Sirius groaned.

* * *

 **Hey guys, I'm sorry to tell you updates might be getting a bit slower. I'm going on holiday so I've prewritten a few chapters, so that I can keep posting but there might not be as many updates every day. Please review, they keep me motivated!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 15**

"We have potions next, just you watch Professor Slughorn spend the entire hour talking about how good Lily is at potions," Mary huffed.

"We have it with the snakes," Dorci sighed.

"Oh, in that case he'll spend the entire hour talking about Lily and _Snape_ , of all people."

"Snape?" Kagome asked, with a raised eyebrow.

"Sometimes I forget you're new here," Mary sighed, "Severus Snape, greasy Slytherin, he's practically a death eater, and mortal enemy of James and Sirius. I really don't understand why you used put up with him, Lils."

Lily received a questioning look from Kagome, "We were friends until last year. James and Sirius were teasing him, I told them to back off and he called me a-"

"It's okay, Lily. You don't have to say the word," Mary shook her head, "Slytherin's are all about blood purity. Lily's parents are muggles, and to them, that's a bad thing."

Kagome nodded understandingly, Inuyasha and Shiori had been bullied relentlessly by demons and humans, just for not being full-blooded.

"We're almost there," Dorci changed the subject, "Potions is taught in the dungeons, of all places."

* * *

Ten minutes into their lesson, just as Professor Slughorn was introducing himself and the topic, the four marauders burst into the cold dungeons.

"You're late. Fifteen points from Gryffindor," Slughorn said with a sigh, "I'm going to have to split you up, aren't I? Remus, you can go there, to the right of Miss MacDonald. Peter, you can go behind him. James, next to Miss Platell. And Sirius, you can sit by our new student, Miss Higurashi, at the back."

Sirius walked over to sit by Kagome, a triumphant grin on his face.

"How come you're late?" She asked.

"Did you not notice I missed first period? I'm hurt. We were with McGonagall, she wasn't too happy about what happened in the hall."

"I can't imagine she would be," Kagome laughed.

"I hope you're good at potions because I'm relying on you," He told her, "I've failed every year."

"That's just great," She groaned, "I've never done this before."

Sirius just looked at her, in shock, 'What do they teach them in Japan, then?' He thought.

"Now, class. Open your textbook to page two hundred and thirty- six. For our first term we will be learning about Amortentia, before we start to actually make some, for educational purposes _only._ " Professor Slughorn said sharply, "Can anyone tell me the uses of Amortentia?"

Lily raised her hand, and as expected, Professor Slughorn chose her, "It's the most powerful love potion in the world, Professor."

"Very good, Miss Evans. Twenty points to Gryffindor!" Slughorn praised, "While Amortentia is a very powerful love potion, it cannot, in fact, create love. It can only create _obsession_ and _infatuation,_ which is very different to love. In fact, if you were to stop administering Amortentia to someone, they would leave. The feelings they had weren't real- and to get caught giving somebody a love potion is a great crime. Can anybody tell me the colour of Amortentia?" He paused for a second, scanning around the room before he decided to choose a Slytherin, "Mr Lestrange?"

"Red?" He guessed.

"No, anyone else?" Slughorn shook his head, "It's a distinct silver colour- often descried as that of a pearl."

Sirius had obviously stopped listening, and was more focused on getting James' attention, "Pssst, James."

James turned around, meeting Sirius' eyes. Sirius moved his head towards a Slytherin boy with stringy black hair, subtly pointing him out. James nodded back, glaring at the boy.

"Mr Potter, Mr Black, if you could pay attention, that would be great," The Professor sighed, "Does anybody know what ingredients we need to make the Amortentia? Perhaps, you would know, Severus?"

The second that Professor Slughorn called on him to answer the question, it immediately clicked for her why James was glaring at him. He was Severus Snape, the one that insulted Lily just because she was muggle-born.

"Ashwinder eggs, rose thorns, refined peppermint oil and moonstone," He answered monotonously.

It was then that Kagome noticed that he was staring at Lily, and she narrowed her eyes, joining James and Sirius in glaring at him.

"Good, Severus. Twenty points to Slytherin!" Slughorn glanced at a clock positioned behind him, "We don't have long left. For your homework, I want you all to write an essay on the rarity and where to find the ingredients in Amortentia, for next lesson."

* * *

The five girls had made their way outside, onto the banks of the lake for their break.

"Didn't you say there's a giant squid in there, Mary?" Kagome asked.

The brunette laughed, "Oh, yeah. It was quite the shock when we saw tentacles coming out of the water on our boat ride in first year."

"What did you think of potions, Kagome?" Lily asked, running a hand through her red hair.

"It was alright," She shrugged, "I had no clue what he was talking about, though."

"Sirius won't be any help," Mary laughed, "Slughorn's failed him every year."

"That's not great news for me," Kagome grumbled, was potions going to become the magical equivalent of maths?

"Don't worry, we'll help," Lily smiled.

"You'll help, you mean," Mary rolled her eyes, "The rest of us aren't doing so well at potions, either."

* * *

"You had an opportunity, Severus." Bellatrix huffed.

"I was in potions with her, so what? She was with your cousin, you know he's not my biggest fan."

"Go now, then. She's with those Gryffindors and the one you used to be buddies with," She said in disgust.

"If you wish, Bellatrix." He sighed.

"You know what? I'll come with you. If you can mingle with the mudblood, so can I," Bellatrix looked at her hands as if she were considering doing something awful, "For my lord, and only for him."

"You're ridiculous," Lucius told her, "I'm not going near the Gryffindors."

"I have to! He wants that jewel, and if it means cozying up to her, then so be it," She shivered, "Come on, Severus."

With that, they stormed out of the dungeons, headed towards the lake.

* * *

"James, I see him!" Peter pointed to Severus, who was walking with Bellatrix towards Lily and her friends.

"There's the greasy git," Sirius grinned, grabbing James' arm to drag him towards the bank of the lake.

Remus just sighed deeply, "Do you want to start the potions homework, Peter?"

"I'd rather watch Snape get his ass handed to him," Peter laughed following Sirius and James.

"Speaking of potions, did you guys know that Kagome's never done Potions before?" Sirius huffed, "I was relying on her to get me to pass this year."

"You have to do it yourself, Sirius!" Remus said in exasperation.

* * *

 **Please review, they keep me motivated! Thanks for all the love and support so far, I really appreciate everybody that's reviewed and read my story!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 16**

"What do you want, Severus?" Lily asked, fire raging in her green eyes.

"I want to apologise, Lily. You _know_ I didn't mean it," He said pleadingly.

"Why's she here?" Mary asked harshly, pointing at Bellatrix.

"Just here to say hi," The girl in question smiled widely, making Mary shiver. Kagome looked at the girl in concern, her smile looked so forced and unnatural it hurt to look at. "You must be the transfer," She turned her sights on Kagome, eyeing the purple jewel that was settled between her collar bones, "It's a shame you're not in Slytherin, really. That necklace is pretty."

"Thanks," Kagome said with an uneasily smile, "I've had it for a long time."

"Can I touch it?" Bellatrix's eyes lit up, and just as the raven haired girl was about to answer, they were interrupted.

"Oh, Snivellus!" James called, Sirius by his side.

"Lily, I'm so sorry," Severus said, staring into her green eyes.

"Sorry isn't enough, you shouldn't have said it in the first place!" Lily told him, her eyebrows furrowed in anger, "I offered you help, like always, and you said you didn't need me!"

Severus turned around, his eyes widening in shock as he saw them, "Go away, Potter."

"How could you forget about me?" Sirius pouted, "Bet you'd remember if I-" He paused, "Hey, Snivelly?"

"What do you want, Black?" He met Sirius' pout with a glare, his voice dripping with malice.

"How do you feel about antlers?" Sirius asked, "Maybe it would distract people from your greasy hair."

"Antlers? Piss off, Sirius," Severus reached for his wand, pointing it at him.

"Or maybe you'd like some shampoo instead? Christmas is coming up, after all," Sirius shrugged, also pulling out his wand.

"You know what, Sirius?" James grinned, wand in hand, "I think he'd look better with antlers. We can always get the shampoo later. Do you think his antlers would be greasy too?"

"Probably. He can't seem to escape it. The grease, that is."

"I think it's time you left, Potter," Bellatrix hissed, "You, too, Sirius. Take the rest of your little friends with you," She pointed to Remus and Peter with her wand.

Kagome, by this point, also had her wand out. Everybody was pointing wands at each other, and she didn't particularly want to be unable to defend herself. (She could, of course use her priestess abilities, but she would much prefer to avoid the questions and, instead, use her wand.)

"Where's the fun in that, Bella dearest?" Sirius laughed, turning his attention back to Severus.

"Antlers it is, Sirius," James laughed, "Anteoculatia!"

Kagome looked at the boy from potions in shock, as two dark horns began to sprout from his head.

"Tentaclifors!" Bellatrix yelled, aiming for Sirius, who quickly ducked the spell.

"Is that any way to treat your favourite cousin?" Sirius grinned, "Really? Trying to turn my head into a tentacle? That isn't polite."

"Neither is giving me antlers," Severus hissed, "Flipendo!"

Sirius went flying backwards, James calling out to him, "You okay mate?"

"Perfectly fine," Sirius stood up quickly and immediately had his wand once again pointed it at Severus.

"That's it, those snakes are getting what's coming to them," Mary muttered, pointing her wand at Bellatrix, "Back off!"

Bellatrix immediately narrowed her eyes at Mary, "Who the hell are you? Incarcerous!"

Kagome watched shiny black ropes shoot out of the end of the girl that had come up to them with Severus's wand, headed straight for Mary, "Protego!" Kagome cast a quick shield charm, blue wisps slipping out of the tip of her wand, knitting together to form a blue shield that the ropes bounced off.

Bellatrix's wild dark eyes met Kagome's blue ones, "I really did want to touch that necklace of yours."

"Sorry, I'd rather you didn't," Kagome shook her head, as the shield charm started to disappear.

"What a shame," Bellatrix muttered, "Expelliarmus!" Mary's wand appeared to have been ripped from her hand by an invisible force, and thrown a few feet away, near some bushes on the bank of the lake.

"Let's go," Severus hissed, his wand at his side and antlers on his head.

"Why?" Bellatrix frowned, "I thought we were having fun, Severus!"

"Drop it, there's more of _them_ , and I'd quite like to get these antlers removed before next period." He growled, pointing lividly at the two brown antlers protruding from his head.

"Fine, then." She huffed, glaring maliciously at the Gryffindors, "I'll be back, and when I am, I won't go so easy on you."

"Great!" Mary rolled her eyes as they walked away, "Where abouts did my wand go?"

"Here," Kagome picked it up for her and handed it to the brunette.

"Why did you have to get involved?" Lily asked, talking to James.

* * *

Kagome sighed, staring out at the lake as Lily started to get mad at James, not just for the incident in the great hall, but also for 'getting involved' with her and Severus.

She looked up, noticing two boys that she had yet to talk to, the 'other half' of the marauders.

"Hey, I'm Kagome," She introduced herself.

"I'm Remus, and this is Peter," He smiled, "I assure you, we had no part in what happened this morning."

Peter just snorted, " _You_ had no part in what happened this morning, or so you say."

She could still hear Lily and James squabbling as the other students started to leave the banks of the lake, "Come on Lily, we don't want to be late for class," Kagome pulled the redhead from the argument by her robes, Mary, Dorci and Alice following behind. "It was nice meeting you," She waved to the two boys as she dragged Lily away.

"We have DADA next, I wonder what the new professor will be like," Mary sighed, "Better than the last one, hopefully."

"What was your last one like?" Kagome asked curiously.

"Ridiculously quiet, and would constantly let those snakes do whatever they wanted, I couldn't wait for him to go," Mary said cheerily. "He didn't seem thrilled with James and Sirius this morning, I bet he already hates them."

Lily laughed, "I'm sure Professor Lyon will be better than our last DADA teacher, Mary. How could it get any worse?"

"We're with the Ravenclaws again," Dorci smiled.

"Ooh, bet you're happy," Mary remarked, "You can stare at _Kyle Stevenson_ all lesson!"

Dorci flushed a bright red, whacking the brunette chatter box lightly on the arm, "Shut up!"

"It's true, and you know it!"

"Is not!"

"Is to!"

Their bickering absentmindedly reminded Kagome of Inuyasha and Kouga. She shook her head, simultaneously laughing at their antics and trying to get herself out of her memories of the past.

* * *

 **Please review, I love reading them! They keep me motivated to keep writing!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 17**

"Welcome to Defence Against the Dark Arts!" The man that was their new Professor exclaimed, his hands clasped tightly together, "It is most important that you learn to defend yourselves, You-Know-Who is rising and we can't be sure of his next move!" The Professor screeched, slamming his hands onto the desk, startling some of the Ravenclaws.

Kagome sat between Lily and some Ravenclaw boy that she had yet to talk to, staring in utter confusion at their teacher.

"This year we will be covering Inferi, for our first few lessons, who knows what an Inferi is?" The Professor asked, stalking around the classroom until the Ravenclaw boy next to Kagome put his hand up.

"You! What is your name?" The Professor got closer to him, his eyes wide.

"Kyle Stevenson," The boy answered, running a hand through his dirty blond hair.

Kagome turned to look at him, recognising the name- it was the boy that Mary said Dorci had a crush on.

"So, Mr. Stevenson, what _is_ an Inferi?"

"An Inferi is a reanimated corpse, Professor," He answered.

"Good, good. Yes, class. An Inferi is a corpse that's been reanimated by the spell of a dark witch or wizard! Can anybody tell me how they differ to _zombies_ , perhaps?"

The same boy, Kyle, put his hand up, and Professor Lyon asked him, "Mr. Stevenson, what is the difference between a zombie and an inferi?"

"An inferi is created by reanimating a corpse using necromancy. And people who create zombies can use them to sustain themselves." Kyle answered.

"Ten points to-," The professor stopped for a second, squinting at Kyle, "Ravenclaw. The process for creating Inferi is very complex, something that is generally only studied by seventh years choosing to take further Defence Against the Dark Arts. Inferi used to only be something the seventh years covered, but now I'm teaching about them in all of my classes. Why, you ask?" Professor Lyon paused, walking up to his desk and slamming his hands on the table again, "Because You-Know-Who is using them. Every time you see a missing witch, wizard, or even muggle in the news, they could have become one of You-Know-Who's Inferi. You, or your classmates, may one day find yourselves fighting them, and it is _crucial_ that you know how to defeat them." The professor stopped again, taking a seat behind his desk and leaning back, his feet up on his desk. He didn't move for a few minutes, and the students started to whisper.

Kagome turned to Lily, "What's he doing?"

"Nobody knows," The boy beside her yawned, "He could have fallen asleep. Wouldn't be the first time a teacher's done that."

Back in her old school, _she'd_ been the one falling asleep, not the teachers!

"Not much improvement from the last one," Kagome could hear Mary sigh from behind her.

* * *

After twenty minutes of silence from Professor Lyons, coupled with some heavy breathing and the occasional snore, everyone had decided that he was, in fact, most definitely asleep. While most of the people had left the classroom, James and Sirius had stayed inside, talking in hushed voices about what to do with him.

"Oh come on, Prongs. We can't just leave him there! It's the perfect opportunity!" Sirius said, with pleading eyes.

"I need to talk to Lily-"

Sirius shook his head, "I don't approve of you ditching this perfect opportunity for Evans, mate."

"Fine, I guess _one_ jinx couldn't hurt."

Sirius grinned, "That's the spirit!" He crept closer to the unsuspecting teacher, "Melofors," He whispered.

"The melofor's jinx, really?" James stifled a laugh, looking at their professor, whose head was now encased in a pumpkin.

"If you woke up with your head in a pumpkin wouldn't you freak out?"

"That's the goal? Freak him out?" James asked.

"I don't know yet, there's so much potential," Sirius muttered, "We'll figure it out later, let's go find Evans."

Sirius and James left the classroom, the latter scanning the halls for a certain redheaded girl.

* * *

The Marauders sat near Lily and her dormmates that lunchtime in the great hall, presumably so James could try to get closer to Lily, who was currently giving him the death stare.

"Just kiss and make up, already!" Sirius groaned.

"I'd rather kiss the giant squid," Lily huffed, continually glaring at James' head.

"That's something I'd like to see!" Sirius grinned, before turning his attention to Kagome, "What's going on in Japan if you've never had a potions lesson before?"

"It's very different to here," Kagome answered vaguely, "Everything is. The food, the culture, the people."

"You have very pretty eyes," He purred, looking her up and down.

She just laughed at him, her blue eyes sparkling with amusement.

Sirius blinked, looking blankly around, 'Did I just get _laughed_ at?' He thought in disbelief.

Mary snorted, "Oh, please Sirius. Just because you've been out with half of the ravenclaw girls doesn't mean Kagome's going to fall for it too!"

"You think they'd know better," Kagome laughed with Mary.

"Let's go," Lily sighed, the glare aimed at James was unwavering as she stood up and turned to her friends.

* * *

They were once again sat on the banks of the lake, which Kagome was quickly realising was Mary and Lily's favourite part of the grounds, and she didn't blame them. The view of the lake truly was stunning

"I just don't want James to get involved," Lily admitted, "Severus made a mistake, and I'm not saying I'm forgiving him, Mary. And James just makes me so mad, sometimes."

"I know he does, Lily," Mary sympathised, putting a hand on the redhead's shoulder, "And Kagome?" She turned to the Japanese girl that had become a part of their friendship group overnight.

"Yeah?" Kagome asked, her head tilted to the side in confusion.

"I don't think Sirius is used to getting rejected, even in the slightest bit. He's made it his mission to date as many of the girls in our year as possible. It felt good to finally watch him get rejected," Mary laughed.

* * *

 **Please review, they keep me motivated to update!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 18**

"James, mate, I reckon you really put your foot in your mouth this time," Sirius said with a bark of laughter, "She said she'd rather kiss the _giant squid_."

James huffed, "It's not like you're doing much better. Didn't you just get laughed at?"

"Don't worry, they all fall for me eventually, maybe she'll just take longer than the others," He shrugged.

"Or maybe there's finally a girl that isn't attracted to you," Remus sighed, "It is possible, you know."

"I don't think so, Moony. She's just playing hard to get," Sirius nodded.

"Or _maybe_ you've lost your charm," James grinned.

"Prongs, how dare you?" Sirius grasped, grabbing his chest, "I'm offended."

* * *

"We have care of magical creatures next," Lily muttered, "I _really_ don't like that class."

Kagome raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

"Because she's not Professor Kettleburn's animal's favourite, they never seem to be fond of her," Mary snickered.

"That's not it, Mary!"

Mary raised her eyebrows, "Then what is it, Lils? I like him, he's my _favourite_ teacher."

"What's he like?" Kagome asked.

"Oh, he's _mad._ " Mary grinned, playing with a strand of her brunette hair, "He's completely off his rocker. He's missing an arm and I'll bet by the end of our seventh year he'll have lost at least part of his leg, if not all of it."

Kagome looked at her in mild concern.

"You see, Kags, he _loves_ dangerous creatures. He absolutely loves them! And he lets us just play with them! Isn't that cool? Though, with the more dangerous ones they tend to get a little bit _too_ close, and he lost his arm his first year teaching here to an aromantula in the Forbidden Forest!" Mary gushed.

Kagome instantly remembered the Forbidden Forest, Dumbledore had mentioned it to her as a good place to practice her magic alone, she absentmindedly considered going there, but decided that would be best for another time. The common room had worked perfectly fine for her that morning.

"Aromantula?" Kagome asked with worried eyes, was the Forbidden Forest more dangerous than Dumbledore had made her think? And _why_ was it forbidden?

"Giant spider," Mary shrugged, "Oooh, maybe we'll get to see one this year. Maybe a baby one- wouldn't that be adorable, a baby giant spider?"

Kagome shuddered, the only thing she could associate a spider with was Naraku- the very man that ruined so many of her dear friends lives. The red mark burned into Kagura's back made its way to the forefront of her mind, as did the image of Naraku. He was cruel, and utterly evil, he couldn't be with Kikyo, so nobody could be. He desired power, so much so that he would cast aside the last remaining part of him just so he could be free from his desire for Kikyo.

"You alright?" Mary frowned, glancing quickly at Lily.

"Yeah," Kagome answered slowly as she brought herself back to the present, "I don't like spiders that much, that's all."

Dorci smiled at her, "Neither do I. Anything with that many legs is automatically suspicious, in my book."

* * *

Mary was indeed right. Their Care of Magical Creatures Professor truly was mad. He had greying blonde hair, a red scar that trailed down his neck, a black eyepatch covering his left eye, (Which Kagome presumed was the work of one of his 'dangerous creatures.'), and, as Mary mentioned, one of his arms was missing. His left arm had been replaced with what Kagome could only describe as a makeshift limb. His replacement arm was a rusty red colour, it looked like something you would find abandoned at a junk yard.

"Welcome, class! It's a pleasure to be back here again!" He smiled widely, "For our first lesson, I think I should introduce you to this little guy," In his real arm, he held a glass container, a docile-looking blue bug inside. From behind the students Kagome could barely see it. It was bigger than a wasp, but smaller than a bird, if she had to compare it to anything, it would be a sapphire version of one of Naraku's Saimyosho.

"This, class, is a BilliWig!" He announced with a laugh.

"Great, I thought we were going to meet a sphinx this year, and we get an overgrown bee," Sirius complained to James.

"The BilliWig is native to Australia, and is very common. In fact, most Australian muggles have seen them! Though, they are notoriously fast, and therefore difficult to capture, so no muggle has really ever seen one up close," He flicked the glass, and the insect starting buzzing, it was flying around the small glass container so quickly that Kagome could barely see it. "The BilliWig has a long curved stinger at the end of their bodies, victims suffer from giddiness and then, _levitation._ "

That peaked Sirius' interest, "James, do you think we could get some and set them free in the dungeons?"

James grinned at him, "We'd have half of Slytherin floating!"

Kagome and Lily heard them, the latter butting into their conversation, "James, you better not!"

"Why not, Evans?" Sirius asked with a shrug, "What's there to lose?"

"I don't know? Maybe the house cup!" Lily frowned, "We haven't won since you guys decided to become the Marauders!"

"What's so important about the house cup?" James raised an eyebrow.

"What about you, love? Interested in helping us levitate the Slytherins?" Sirius asked Kagome with a smirk.

Kagome sighed ignoring the flirtatious looks Sirius was giving her, "They haven't done anything to me, I don't think they deserve it." She wasn't one to be unnecessarily unkind to other students based on their house. There _had_ to be some good Slytherins, and she'd rather not bother them. She did, however, dislike Severus Snape, the one that insulted Lily because she's muggle born. And, she would be more than happy to hex him when she learnt how.

"That's no fun," Sirius pouted, "What did Bella want with you earlier?" He asked, some concern in his voice as he thought about one of their own, a Gryffindor, fraternising with his Slytherin cousin, who had every intention of becoming a death eater.

"The girl with Severus?" Kagome paused uneasily, "She wanted to touch my necklace."

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, if you're quite done talking," Their professor frowned at them, "Would you like to demonstrate to the class the effects of a BilliWag sting?"

"I'd rather not, Professor. Maybe some other time," Sirius said with a false apologetic tone to his voice.

"That is a shame," Professor Kettleburn muttered.

* * *

 **Please review, I really appreciate them. As I'm on holiday, updates WILL be slower than usual, and I might not be able to update for the next two days at all :( Sorry for the inconvenience!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 19**

"Free period! Finally," Mary sighed happily as she danced her way out of Care of Magical Creatures class.

"What do we do now?" Kagome asked. In Japan, they rarely got a free period, and when they did, it was reserved strictly for studying.

"Anything!" Mary smiled, "The possibilities are _endless_!"

"How about we go to the library and finish the potions homework?" Lily suggested, playing with a strand of her red hair.

"Boring!" Mary sang.

"Lily, I agree with you. I'm not going to be able to do it on my own," Kagome nodded, glad that the redhead had previously agreed to help her with potions.

"Great! We're headed to the library, Alice, Dorci, you want to come?" The redhead smiled.

Dorci shook her head, "I'm going to see if I can catch Lila. She said to Mary that Kyle might ask me to go on a date with him on our first Hogsmeade trip!"

Alice nodded, "I'm going with her, just for moral support."

The three girls not headed to the library walked away in hopes of catching Lila, or Kyle for interrogation, leaving Kagome and Lily alone.

"Hogsmeade?" Kagome asked once they had started on their way to the library.

"Oh, yeah, you wouldn't have had that in Japan," Lily muttered to herself, "Hogsmeade is a magical town that you can go on school trips to throughout the year, from third year or above. It's nice there, we have a trip coming up in a few weeks. There's one every month, all you need to be able to go is a permission slip from a parent or something."

"That's nice," Kagome replied, "Is this the library?" She asked, in awe of the huge room they were standing in.

Lily nodded, smiling at Kagome's amazed face.

They didn't have anything even remotely similar to it in her old school. In fact, the library had been just three shelves of books, sitting there lamely, unopened. But this school, Hogwarts, was much more impressive. Each wall was lined to the ceiling with books, small study desks dotted around the library.

"We should be quiet, Madame Pince isn't very kind to people disrupting the peace in her library," Lily whispered, pointing to the sour-faced librarian, then showing Kagome to an empty desk.

"Okay," Kagome nodded, watching Lily pick a book on love potions off the shelf, "To make Amortentia you need ashwinder eggs," Kagome told her.

"Yeah, they're common in most love potions. Ashwinders are very common around the magical world, they're born from an unattended magical fire," Lily read from the book, herself and Kagome quickly writing it down.

Kagome pulled a second book off the shelf, the one was specifically about Amortentia, "Rose thorns can be cut off a rose, they're very common and can be found in magical and muggle stores." She said, recalling seeing roses sold in stores near her home in Japan, "Refined peppermint oil is easy to find there too."

Kagome wrote it out, her handwriting messier than usual, as she had yet to become used to using a quill instead of an actual pen.

"Moonstones are pretty hard to find," Lily sighed, "There isn't anything in here." She put the book she had been holding back on the shelf.

"I suppose you two are here to do the potions assignment?" Remus came up to the table the two girls were sat at, Peter at his side holding a pile books in his arms.

"Hey, Remus, Peter," Kagome smiled.

"We're stuck on moonstones," Lily admitted, "The Encyclopedia of Love Potions hasn't really been much use."

"Ah, we might be able to help," Peter squeaked from behind the pile of books, "The moonstone book is in the middle of the pile." He told Remus, who carefully pulled it out from within the mountain of books Peter was holding.

"What're all those for?" Kagome asked him, eyeing the books.

"Well, our DADA professor seems to be quite useless," Remus sighed, "We thought we should just teach ourselves the material."

"Oh, that's a good plan," Kagome nodded.

Lily took the book on moonstones from Remus, "Thanks, guys."

"Yeah, thanks," Kagome thanked them, smiling.

"Let's get this essay done," Lily picked up her quill, scooting closer to Kagome so they could both read from the book.

* * *

"There is _no way_ McGonagall is going to let you, Sirius," James grinned, standing outside Professor McGonagall's classroom, which was now empty of students.

"Look, mate. If I say I'll hold off on the pranks she's going to let me do it."

"Two gallons says she won't," James betted.

"Two gallons says she will!" Sirius grinned back, his stormy grey eyes full of determination.

"Alright, I'll wait out here," The Potter boy sighed, "Can't wait for my two gallons."

Sirius laughed, pushing open the door to McGonagall's classroom and entering it slowly.

* * *

"It wasn't that hard," Kagome smiled at Lily as they walked back to their common room together, "With your help I might pass potions!"

"You've been here a day, Kagome. I'm sure you'll be amazing at it once you've had some practice."

By now, most of their year had returned to their common room to socialise before dinner. Kagome chatted to Lily and started to get to know some of the other Gryffindor girls, as the portrait swung open.

There stood a very triumphant looking Sirius Black, and James, who was looking slightly put out.

"Everyone," Sirius announced, "I would like to introduce you to your new Quidditch commentator, _me._ "

"I can't believe she let you," James sighed, pushing past him to come into the common room.

"Why on earth would Professor McGonagall let you be our commentator?" Lily asked, confused.

"You see, Evans. I offered her a deal. Tone down the pranks and I get to make the _whole school_ listen to _me_ whenever they watch a quidditch match!" Sirius laughed, sauntering into the common room with a celebratory grin on his face.

"Somehow I don't think that's a good decision," Lily whispered to Kagome.

"I agree, I've only been here a day and I can tell that boy means trouble," She agreed.

"You're learning quickly," Lily smiled.

* * *

They made it to dinner, though Kagome was concerned. Dorci, the sweet blonde girl she met on the train was noticeably absent.

"Where's Dorci?" Kagome asked Alice quietly.

"She's upset, Lila was making it all up. Lila's a Slytherin, it's just like one of those snakes to make something like that up to get Dorcis' hopes up and try to humiliate her," Mary answered for Alice, seething.

Kagome picked up one of the sugary golden apples from a bowl, the kind that Mary had recommended to her that morning, "I'm gonna go talk to her."

"I dunno, Kags," Mary chewed through another one of the golden apples, "She can get a bit moody."

"I'm going anyway, if she doesn't want to talk I can always come back," Kagome shook her head, dismissing Mary as she stood up and left the hall.

* * *

 **Please review, they keep me motivated to update, I'm back from holiday now so updates will be quicker now!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 20**

"Dorci?" Kagome called out for the girl as she quietly entered their common room, golden apple in hand. She could see the small figure of the blonde girl bundled up in her bed. Kagome sat on the edge of her bed, waiting patiently for Dorci to speak to her.

"What do you want?" Dorci sniffled, sticking her head out from under the covers, her eyes red and puffy. Her eyes were still full of tears, threatening to fall.

"Want to talk about it?" Kagome asked softly, "I brought you food." She offered the golden apple to Dorci, who slowly took it.

"Lila tricked me," Her voice hitched as she tried to fight back the tears, "I should have known better than to trust a snake. She kept telling me he's going to ask me to go with him to Hogsmeade, but it's all lies!"

Kagome took the smaller girl into a hug, comforting her as she cried.

"Kyle doesn't even like me, Lila just wanted to humiliate me in front of him," Droci leant her head into Kagome's shoulder, relishing in the support that she was providing for her.

"It'll be okay, Dorci," Kagome soothed, "You don't need either of them. We can get Lila back if you want, and I'm sure Kyle will come around. He'd be stupid not to like you."

Dorci offered her a small smile, "Thanks, Kagome."

* * *

Sleep didn't come easily for Kagome that night. Mary's words about spiders being 'cute', kept taking her back to the past, to the days where Naraku would burn the spider mark into the backs of his incarnations to remind them that they would forever be tethered to him, it was not something she could ever call 'cute', the pain that the spider symbolised for her would never be something she could consider 'cute'.It also bothered her immensely that out of all the girls that had known Dorci, the girls who had known her for _years_ , she, the new girl, was the only one to check if she was alright.

She awoke early, yet again, and as she started to stretch she startled Kitsune, who had been snuggled into her chest. The cat had followed her downstairs to the common room, where Kagome picked the ginger cat up and placed her on the sofa. This time, she had not only brought her spell book down with her, but also a book on potions that she had taken out from the library when she was doing the potions homework with Lily.

Kagome flicked through the spell book, and landed on one she wanted to try.

"Orchideous," She smiled to herself as a small bouquet of flowers sprouted from the tip of her wand, "I'm like a magician," She muttered, staring at the limp flowers, before they fell to the ground, their fragile petals scattering around her.

Kitsune just looked at her blankly. "Maybe that one needs some work," Kagome shrugged, "Or maybe I should read up on potions before I start to fail?"

She sighed, setting her wand down next to her cat, who just looked at the foreign object curiously. "It wouldn't hurt to practice my _other_ powers, would it?"

A bang startled her, and instinctively Kagome grabbed her wand from beside her pet. The portrait of the fat lady had swung open, though there appeared to be nobody there.

"Who's there?" Kagome whispered, her wand pointed at the entrance to the common room. Her blue eyes darted around the room, searching for any sign of an intruder. Kitsune stood up, the small kitten starting to mewl as she leapt off the worn sofa, headed towards a spot only a few feet away from the door.

Kagome could hear shuffling, and she frowned when she couldn't work out where from. Kagome watched with concerned blue eyes as her new cat made her way towards the spot, stopping and sniffing the air.

"Kitsune," Kagome called the cat back to her side, still scanning the room for the cause of the common room door opening, she knew that the portrait-lady wouldn't open the door unless given the password, making Kagome incredibly suspicious as she watched her cat sniff a specific part of the common room, especially when there seemed to be nothing there.

Kitsune trotted back to her reluctantly, her feline eyes still fixated on the empty spot she sniffed before.

"Maybe it was nothing," Kagome muttered, picking up Kitsune to cradle the soft kitten in her arms, still looking around the room with narrowed eyes for anybody hiding in the common room.

* * *

"That was _too_ close, guys," Remus frowned at James and Sirius.

"What's she even doing out there?" James asked, placing his invisibility cloak back in a box under his bed.

"Hell if I know, mate. That cat kept sniffing us!" Sirius threw his hands up in the air, pacing around their dormitory.

"You need to be more careful," Remus scolded them.

"We had to go out to the forest, you _know_ the full moon's tonight. We have to start making sure that nobody will go in there!" James exclaimed, diving onto his bed, waking up Peter, who had slept through the whole ordeal.

"What's going on?" The newly awoken Peter grumbled.

"We almost got caught by Kagome, but relax, we had the cloak on," Sirius shrugged.

"Kagome?" Peter smiled lopsidedly, "The Japanese one that we helped in the library?"

Remus sighed, "Yes. What if you didn't have the cloak on?"

"We did, mate. It was fine," James replied, his face shoved into his blankets, "We'll just have to check the map when we come back from the forest."

"Yeah, where's the map?" Sirius asked, glancing around their dormitory.

"Here," Peter offered it to him, "You forgot to bring it with you."

"Ah, yeah. We'll just have to remember next time, won't we James?" Sirius grinned, taking the map from Peter.

* * *

Owls flew by overhead in a flurry of wings, signalling the arrival of the morning mail. Kagome watched in amazement as the owl she recognised as Aaral, the fluffy dark brown owl provided for her by Hogwarts, landed unsteadily in front of her, one of his wings entering Mary's bowl of cereal.

"Hey!" The talkative Gryffindor huffed, frowning at the owl, "Control him, Kagome!"

"He isn't mine," She answered with a shrug, pulling a letter, sealed in a white envelope, from his mouth. Kagome patted the owl on the head, smiling at his confused orange eyes. She opened the envelope, smiling as she saw a letter inside.

 _Dear Kagome,_

 _We miss you ever so much. It truly is difficult knowing that we can't see you until some_

 _English wizard is dead. Souta says it's worse than you being in the past, because he can get to you, but he isn't allowed. He's doing fine, he's gone back to school and really enjoyed his first day. I hope you're enjoying your new school. Oh, Grandpa insisted on giving you some of his sacred sutras, so those are in the envelope. He says you need to be prepared for whatever demons you will encounter in the magical world. Souta is ever so excited, Kagome. He wants to know everything there is to know about Hogwarts, about magic, about the people, as usual. Have fun, my dear. I'm sure this whole ordeal will be over soon and you can come back to us, I was thinking that maybe we could visit your father's parents someday. We all love you Kagome,_

 _Love,_

 _Mom._

Kagome read the letter with a sad smile on her face, as she pulled out the sacred sutras her grandfather had undoubtedly spent hours making.

"What're those, Kagome?" Mary looked curiously at the foreign letters on the sutras.

The ravenette laughed, "To ward off demons."

"We don't do demons until seventh year, you might want to start saving them for then," Mary shrugged, thinking about how different Japan must be from England.

* * *

 **Please review, they help keep me motivated!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!  
**

 **Chapter 21**

"We have History of Magic now," Mary groaned, holding her face in her hands. "Don't bother to wake me up if I fall asleep."

Kagome looked at the overdramatic brunette questioningly, her head tilted to the side.

"Professor Binns is the most boring teacher ever," Dorci whispered. The petite blonde girl seemed to have cheered up since the previous night, which made Kagome glad that she went after her.

"That's a bit of an exaggeration," Lily rolled her green eyes at Dorci.

"Is not!" Mary protested, "Even you have to admit his class is more than enough to send you to sleep."

"Oh Evans!

Kagome turned around, staring amusedly at James Potter, who was striding towards Lily, along with Sirius and Peter. She raised her eyebrows as she realised Remus was gone, though Lily seemed to be too preoccupied with James to notice.

"How did he find us?" Lily huffed. They had taken the longer way to their History of Magic class, so that they would be less likely to run into the Marauders.

"He always finds you," Mary stated, checking her nails, "It's like he can tell where you are at all times."

"He probably has her microchipped and she just doesn't know it," Dorci mock-whispered to Kagome.

"He better not have," Lily snorted.

"'Lo, Evans," James grinned, "Got a date to Hogsmeade?"

"Don't need one," She shrugged him off.

"Are you suuuuuure?"

"Positive," She sighed, "We need to get to class."

"Let me walk you there?"

"No."

They bickered throughout the whole journey to class, people in the hallways stopping to stare at them.

"Are they always like this?" Kagome asked Sirius, who was laughing at James.

"Oh, yes," He grinned at her, "Evans just doesn't realise she loves him, but she will."

* * *

History of Magic truly had been the most boring experience of Kagome's life. The Professor droned on and on. He just read from his never-ending collection of notes, his translucent form remaining stationary at the front of the room.

Kagome wasn't really surprised to find that Hogwarts had ghosts, let alone one as a teacher. In the Feudal Era, there had been malicious and kind spirits that she had encountered on her journey. But none of them had been like her History of Magic professor. He seemed to be neither malicious nor kind, just awfully _boring._ People were nodding off in the middle of class- James seemed to be fighting off sleep to keep talking to Lily.

"C'mon, Evans. I know you love me really," James yawned, leaning on the desk.

"I don't think I could ever love you," The redhead pulled a face at him.

"We've lost Peter already," Sirius sniffed in mock sadness, prodding Peter, who had, like a few others, fallen asleep.

"Rest in peace," James nodded, stopping in his attempts to woo Lily to take a look at Peter, who was resting his head on the desk, in a deep slumber.

"So, Kagome," Sirius turned his attention away from his sleeping friend and to the new girl, "How're you finding Hogwarts?"

"It's alright, it's so different from Japan. It's a lot colder here, I guess I'm just not used to it," She shrugged.

"Have _you_ got a date to Hogsmeade?" Sirius asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No," Kagome laughed, "I just want to explore with my friends."

"Maybe you'll reconsider?" He flashed her a dazzling grin, though she didn't appear to be fazed by it.

"Maybe not," She shook her head. Kagome knew boys like him, they were the ones that broke hearts for fun, because they _could_. Boys like that would keep breaking hearts until they changed, in the rare case that they did change. Boys like that knew how to use their looks to their advantage, to get what they wanted and then leave, without caring how many broken hearts they left behind. Kagome could see right through it. It was going to take more than a few flirtatious looks on Sirius' part to get her.

"That's a shame, love," Sirius sighed, "But I can see you're playing hard to get, and I'm up for the chase!" He grinned wolfishly at her.

Kagome groaned, having a womaniser chase after her until he got bored of her was _so_ not something she wanted.

"Professor!" Lily waved her hand in the air, "The class is over."

"He won't notice if we leave," Sirius shrugged, shaking Peter awake.

"Hey!" The smaller boy exclaimed, objecting to the sudden wakeup call.

James rolled his eyes, "You slept through the entire lesson mate!"

* * *

" _Colovaria!_ " Kagome kept her wand pointed at the white candle, which seemed to be staring at her judgementally. She looked over at Lily's, which was, as expected, a bubble-gum pink.

"It's not that bad, Kagome," Dorci shrugged, glancing at her own candle, "Mine's green."

" _Colovaria!_ " Kagome sounded more commanding this time, as if she was ordering the candle to turn pink. Slowly, from the base of the candle, a hot pink crept its way up the candle, earning a thrilled shriek from Kagome, "I did it Lily!"

"It's even better than it was yesterday," Lily smiled at her.

"Mine definitely isn't," Dorci snorted, looking forlornly at her mint green candle, before looking around the classroom dejectedly, namely at the Ravenclaw boy she fancied, Kyle Stevenson.

"You're great at transfiguration, though," Lily reminded the blonde, in an attempt to distract her from her Kyle-gazing.

"Hm, I guess," Dorci mumbled, still staring at Kyle.

"She likes Kyle more than she'll ever like charms," The redhead whispered to Kagome, "I heard Sirius is after you?" Lily frowned remembering Sirius' words in the previous lesson, looking worriedly at her new friend.

Kagome waved away her concerns, "He'll lose interest in a few days, Lils."

"Has everybody managed to get their candle to turn some shade of pink?" Professor Flitwick addressed his class, standing on a desk so that they could see his short form.

"No," Dorci groaned, "It's not going well for me, professor."

"Yes, Miss Meadows, I can see that," The professor sighed, looking disappointedly at the now mint green candle, "At least it changed colour."

Dorci nodded solemnly, "Pink's overrated anyway."

* * *

"I was this close! _This close!_ " Bellatrix huffed, walking down the corridor with several of her fellow Slytherins at her side.

"Sure you did," Severus drawled, recalling the concerned look on the Higurashi girls' face when Bellatrix simply smiled at her- though even he could admit it was a strangely disturbing sight to see a smile on her usually stony face.

"You," She hissed at him, her eyes narrowed, "Were of no use. You just begged that filthy mudblood for forgiveness- since that traitorous cousin of mine is now involved I've probably made a bad first impression on her. I'm going to get that jewel one way or another."

"Bella, we still have time," Her younger sister, Narcissa, soothed.

"He asked _me_ to do this, 'Cissy. I'm not going to fail him- I am _going_ to get that jewel! I just need to make her like me, that's all. You and Severus are in her potions class- since he's already failing our lord, how about you become friends with her? I'll find a way to get closer to her and that necklace of hers."

Narcissa nodded, though her face looked uneasy, she could never let the oldest Black daughter know her hesitations about working for the Dark Lord.

* * *

 **Please review, they keep me motivated to update!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 22**

"Potions next, with the Slytherins again," Mary sighed, "Slughorn only likes you and that greasy Slytherin boy. I swear he makes it purposefully harder for the rest of us."

They sat on the banks of the lake again, Kagome with her nose in the book on potions that she had gotten from the library, "So it's kind of like muggle chemistry?"

"I suppose," Lily answered, recalling her days of primary school experiments, "Did the rest of you finish your homework?"

The three girls nodded, "It was difficult to find the information on moonstones, though," Alice added.

"We should get to class," Mary said, seeming less than happy about having potions with 'the snakes' as she not-so-affectionately called them.

"C'mon, Kagome," Lily smiled, closing Kagome's book on potions.

"I want to pass this class, Lily," Kagome sighed, looking down at the book in her hands, "Sirius is going to be useless, I already know it."

"Sirius is going to be trying to impress you," Mary snorted, "Everybody's gossiping about the fact that you rejected _Sirius Black_."

"What's the big deal?" The ravenette asked, her blue eyes sparkling with curiosity.

"He's a 'ladies man', or so he likes to call himself, I like to call him a womanizing pig. He has most of the school's female population in love with him- he's not going to take rejection easily." Mary explained with a half-shrug.

"After you," Lily let the other girls go into their potions classroom before her, since she held the wooden door open.

Kagome shivered, taking her seat near the back of the classroom. The dungeons, where their classroom was situated, tended to be rather cold. She didn't see why nobody had thought of casting a heating spell. These people were all _magical_ for crying out loud! Surely they had radiators in their oh-so-magical world. It took her a few minutes to adjust to the cold air of the dungeons, and for her to stop shivering.

"Hello, again, love," The voice of none other than Sirius Black tore her out of her dreams of warmth.

"Hello, Sirius," She replied, turning her attention away from her potions partner and onto their professor.

"Well, class. I will be collecting your homework shortly, but first let me ah-" Professor Slughorn started rifling through the potions cupboards, searching for something.

Sirius groaned, realising he had spent the entire night in the forest with James, scouting the area instead of doing his homework, "Can I copy off you?"

"Why?" Kagome sighed, she didn't want to spend all year doing his homework just because he couldn't be bothered.

"Uh- I forgot, look, it won't happen again, I just really, really can't get a detention tonight," He sounded painfully desperate, which was a strong contrast with the boy who had told her that she was 'playing hard to get.' Kagome didn't know why, but the desperation in her voice compelled her to hand him her homework, letting him scribble down sections of her work.

"Thank you so much, love," Sirius grinned, the relief evident in his voice.

"Don't make me regret it," Kagome smiled back.

"Ah, class. Here are the ashwinder eggs that you will eventually be using in your end of year test- the making of Amortentia," Slughorn proudly showed the class a woven basket full of orange eggs.

Mary, who was only two desks in front of Kagome, turned backwards to get Sirius' attention, "Where's Remus?" She whispered, finally noticing that the smart Gryffindor that usually sat in front of her was gone.

"Sick," Sirius responded vaguely.

"That is quite enough talking, Mr Black, Miss MacDonald. Could you possibly tell me how Ashwinder eggs are made?"

Sirius glanced down at his newly copied homework with a grin, "Yes I can, Professor. Because I _actually_ did my homework."

Slughorn raised his eyebrows in disbelief, "Really? I say that's a miracle. Go on, Mr. Black."

"Ashwinder eggs are made from an unattended magical fire," Sirius grinned.

"We're all so proud of you!" James yelled, earning a glare from Professor Slughorn.

"Enough, Mr Potter. Can we please focus on today's lesson? We'll be covering ashwinder eggs today. They're found in most love potions, and are extremely hot. If they are not frozen in time they can start fires in the area surrounding them. They are extremely valuable and can be made just about anywhere, provided there is an unattended magical fire. Ashwinder eggs are also one of the cures for Ague, the other being a potion that if brewed incorrectly will be fatal."

* * *

"Remus gets sick all the time," Mary was explaining the boy's absence to Kagome after class, "Poor lad, such a weak immune system."

"He'll be better by tomorrow, Peter says its normally just an overnight thing," Dorci shrugged, "Still, it must be horrible for him."

Kagome nodded sympathetically, listening to Mary ramble on.

"He's had just about every disease under the sun! Even muggle ones, though Madame Pomfrey seems to be able to help him get better quickly. Measles, Ague, Scrofungulus, and even a minor case if Dragonpox, among other things!" Mary rambled.

Kagome paused in her stride. That sounded like the magical equivalent of the list of ailments her grandfather would try to use to cover up her trips to the feudal era. That instantly made Kagome suspicious- just what could a boy like the studious Remus Lupin be hiding?

* * *

After their final class, Care of Magical creatures, in which James and Sirius had managed to be even more annoying than in the previous lessons, even going so far as to try to steal the BilliWig from their professor, Kagome decided to spend the free period on her own.

"You're sure?" Lily asked with a frown.

"Yeah, I'm going to go for a walk, to clear my head," Kagome lied quickly, "I'll be back later, don't worry."

"Alright then," Lily reluctantly departed with Dorci, Alice and Mary, leaving Kagome on the banks of the river.

The event that morning made her rather unsettled- as if somebody had been lurking around the common room, watching her. It made Kagome rather glad she didn't practice her priestess powers then, where somebody could have seen her. Still, the feeling of not having used her powers in a while scratched at her insides, as if it was desperate to burst out.

It was then that Kagome decided she would pay her first visit to the Forbidden Forest to practice her powers, just as Dumbledore had recommended to her.

* * *

 **Please review, they keep me motivated. Currently I have up to chapter 28 prewritten, and I've been uploading one chapter a day since I'm busy, but I can up it to two per day if that's something you'd prefer. Please review, constructive criticism is valued!**


	23. Chapter 23

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 23**

"Remus, mate?" Sirius poked his head around the door to their dorm, finding Remus bundled up on the edge of the bed, "I think now may be a good time to go down to the forest."

James crept into the room, helping Remus out of bed and placing his invisibility cloak over him, "It's starting to get dark so people will be coming back from the Great Hall now."

Remus nodded, "Thank you."

"Anything for you, Moony," Sirius replied with a smile, "Let's go, lads."

The four Gryffindor boys made their way out of the castle, careful to not get spotted by other students as they entered the Forbidden Forest.

* * *

"Kagome still hasn't come back," Lily worried, looking around the hall to try to spot their new friend in amongst the hordes of Hogwarts students.

"She'll be fine, Lils," Mary rolled her eyes, "Don't be such a worrywart. She's probably just lost track of time, we can take her to the kitchens later."

"Alright, Mary, if you say so," Lily sighed, not totally convinced.

"Come _on_ , Kagome's fine. Here, have some pumpkin pie," The talkative brunette started loading food onto Lily's plate, trying to distract her from the missing Kagome.

* * *

It was starting to become rather dark in the Forbidden Forest. Kagome could see the sun start to set through the trees, the vibrant orange sky reminded her of a time when she could just sit and watch the sunset with her friends in the feudal era. She sat down on a nearby log, assuming she was deep enough in the forest that nobody would see her. The stars were starting to come out, the full moon set in the sky as the sun disappeared over the horizon.

She turned her palms upwards, inspecting them carefully, before she raised her hands to the air, allowing her spiritual energy to flow through her, a barrier of her energy knitting together in a dome surrounding her. It was as if a great dam had broken, her energy finally being able to flood through her, free and unrestrained.

Kagome sighed happily, the feeling of being able to use her powers was unlike any other. It felt like a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders, and she absentmindedly wondered how she managed to not use her powers before her fifteenth birthday. She let the barrier dissipate, drawing the energy back into herself as she exhaled. It was like a form of meditation for her, relieving stress on the body and mind.

A howl resounded through the forest, startling Kagome out of her meditative state, "What was that?" She whispered to herself worriedly. She allowed her spiritual energy to take over, scanning the forest for auras. As expected, she could sense hundreds within the forest- most being animals. There were four distinct ones that bothered her, though. James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, and a weakened Remus Lupin.

Another howl came, this one sounding closer than the last, and she could hear what sounded like an animal, or animals rushing through nearby bushes.

Kagome stood up quickly, glancing around the surrounding area nervously. Something sprang out of the bushes, stopping a few feet in front of Kagome.

The creature itself looked halfway between a malnourished dog and a human. Grey, wiry fur was stretched over a human-esque frame, dark wild eyes staring up at her, with sharp teeth encased in a powerful jaw snapping closed. It looked like something out of a horror movie. It stood about six-foot tall, though it was crouched down, watching her with analytical eyes- as if it was trying to discern whether or not she would fight back.

Kagome stumbled backwards, unknowingly inciting the creature to pounce for her. She outstretched her palms, her spiritual energy reacting instinctively, trying to protect her by forming a barrier around her.

The creature growled ferally, continuing to throw itself at the barrier, growing angrier as it was separated from its' prey. It's clawed paws swiped at the barrier, trying to break through to her with an unrivalled ferocity.

Kagome panted, desperately trying to calm herself so that she could maintain the barrier. Her spiritual energy was going haywire, telling her that the aura of the creature was shared with that of Remus, but she was unsure if she could even trust her own senses in her panicked frenzy. Her blue eyes darted around, her spiritual powers flooding through her. The sensation was somewhat like an adrenaline rush, though she was barely able to stay standing upright she could form a strong barrier- a thick pink dome of swirling energy surrounding her.

* * *

Sirius, now in his animagus form, bounded through the forest, James' stag form being just behind him. They had lost him a few minutes ago- it was as if Remus had smelled something and just taken off. He rushed through a wall of shrubs, trying to catch up with Remus, who had dived through some bushes. Peter was, as always, watching the scene unfold. With his animagus being a rat, it was difficult for him to keep up with the others. He paused in his sprinting as Remus' colossal werewolf form came into view.

'What the fuck?' Sirius thought to himself, even in his dog form his confusion was portrayed on his face. His eyes were wide as he looked at Kagome, his new favourite thing to flirt with, inside a pink dome, the werewolf growling angrily at her.

* * *

Nothing was going quite right for Kagome. She was currently trapped in her own barrier, praying that the half-dog half-human creature lost interest, though praying seemed to be futile. It confused her even more when she saw a large black dog, and a deer bound into the area, both seemingly trying to distract the creature attacking her by barking and bounding around the clearing.

It worked- the creature seemed to be maddened by the dogs' continual barking. Its' wild eyes turned away from Kagome and onto the dog, charging at it quickly.

Kagome almost dropped her barrier in her rush to throw up one around the poor dog before the creature could attack it. She panted, the strain of keeping up two barriers at once ate at her- sweat starting to bead on her forehead.

The dog gave her what could only be described as a confused glance, so she let down the barrier protecting it from the sharp claws of the werewolf, allowing the dog to jump backwards, towards the stag, which was standing stationary at the edge of the clearing.

With an ear-splittingly loud howl, the creature jumped backwards, turning around to run through the undergrowth, deeper into the forest.

Trembling, Kagome let down her barrier, the pink dome disappearing entirely, as she looked at the dog, and the stag, which had started to retreat. She felt herself relax a bit, allowing herself to feel around for the auras of the boys she noticed in the forest earlier, trying to find them, incase they, too, had been attacked by the creature. Somehow, what she sensed was worse. She gasped involuntarily, she could feel that Sirius' aura was where the dog was standing- the Potter boy's was where the stag was- Remus' still seemed conflicted- flicking between human and wolf, similarly to that of a half-demon, and Peter's was somewhere nearby.

"What?" She whispered to herself in disbelief, slowly approaching the dog, "There's no way that's possible." She shook her head, staggering backwards, nearly tripping on the log that she sat on earlier, pointing a shaky finger at the dog, "Sirius?"

* * *

Sirius gave James a look, conveying the phrase, "What the literal hell?" perfectly.

Just seconds ago Kagome had been using _wandless magic_ \- something that only the most powerful and disciplined witches and wizards could do. This girl had barely managed to turn her candle pink in charms! And when she whispered his name, pointing at him with confused eyes- he had to look down and check he was still in his animagus form. When he realised he hadn't changed back, he ran, as fast as he could, James on his heels.

* * *

 **Please review, they keep me motivated. This chapter was difficult to write, so I appreciate constructive** **criticism on it to let me know how to improve.**


	24. Chapter 24

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 24**

Kagome leant on a tree, having just rushed out of the forest. She was panting heavily, desperately trying to rationalise what she had just seen. A half-wolf, half-human creature tried to attack her, and seemed to be sharing an aura with _Remus,_ of all people. The kind, studious boy that had helped her and Lily find a book on moonstones for their potions homework was sharing an aura with a _wolf._ What could that even mean? Thoughts swirled around her mind at a million miles an hour, and she couldn't understand a single one of them. She wrapped a hand around the jewel, something she normally did to comfort herself. Her head was pounding as she thought about it all.

 _Remus was the wolf-creature._

Not to mention the fact that Sirius Black seemed to be a _dog_ , instead of a dashingly handsome sixth year- and James Potter, devoted admirer of Lily, was a _stag_. Peter was there too, but Kagome couldn't tell what he was- it had been so dark, and the entire thing had essentially become a blur.

Drawing a shaky breath, she slowly made her way back to the common room, the extreme use of her powers leaving her drained and barely able to walk.

"Astray," Kagome whispered to the grumbling portrait lady, who seemed less than pleased to have been awoken at such an odd hour. She stumbled through the common room, collapsing on the lumpy sofa, having used most of her energy to sustain a barrier. The fatigue had gotten to her, black dots clouding her vision before she drifted into a deep slumber.

* * *

"Oh dear _fucking_ Merlin," Sirius huffed, dragging his hands down his face, "What the hell just happened?"

"Kagome Higurashi just got attacked by Remus- and she recognised you as an animagus," Peter nodded, sounding strangely excited, "That doesn't seem to be good for you."

"Blimey- we've really done it this time. What was that anyway- I've never seen a shield charm like it- she wasn't even using her wand!" James exclaimed, the three of them had found another clearing, deeper in the forest, to try to talk about what had just happened.

"Wandless magic is supposed to be the hardest kind to master! McGonagall said it's like riding a bike, with no hands, through a storm," Peter sighed.

"We'll sort this out later- we need to find Remus," James groaned, "No clue where he is."

"I've brought the map," Sirius told them, pulling it out of his pocket, "We'll try to deal with Kagome later," He said. For once in his life, Sirius Black was unsure of himself.

* * *

Kagome awoke with a groan- she shifted uncomfortably on the lumpy sofa, frowning as she sat up.

The memories of the previous night's events flooded back to her, her eyes widening as she remembered what she had seen, what she had _sensed_.

The over-use of her powers made it feel like a truck had hit her. It was hard enough for her to maintain a barrier around herself, especially when being attacked by an unknown creature, and to keep up a second barrier at the same time. The feeling of her energy slowly replenishing, no doubt with some help from her spiritual powers, proved to her that she had not dreamt it- that and the fact she was covered in leaves from trying to get out of the forest.

One thing remained clear to her: she had to find the Marauders.

Though, it was only the early hours of the morning from her guess, so she had time to get ready before she confronted them. Kagome dragged herself up the stairs to the girls dormitories, hell bent on getting a shower before any such confrontation could be had.

* * *

It was quite possibly the start of breakfast, though the Marauders had no real way of knowing from within the Forbidden Forest. The only thing giving them an indication of the time was the rising sun, the moon having just disappeared over the horizon.

Sirius pulled the limp form of Remus Lupin up, himself and James supporting the weakened boy together, his arms hanging over their shoulders.

"You alright, mate?" James asked as Remus came to.

"Better," He replied with a nod.

"Unfortunately, mate, we don't have good news," Sirius explained with a frown.

"What's happened? Did I hurt someone? Did I hurt any of you?" Remus asked quickly, looking worried.

"No, no, mate. Well, ah, you know Kagome? Pretty little thing- blue eyes, new student?" Sirius asked, Peter trailing behind them.

"Yes," Remus said slowly, his concern not lessening.

"Well, ah, she was in the forest- and uh, you _tried_ to attack her-" Sirius started.

"I tried to attack her? Merlin, is she okay? What happened?" Remus looked to James and Sirius quickly, his face drawn into a frown.

"Oh, Merlin, no," James sighed, "Sirius' new plaything fought back. She was using _wandless magic_ to make shield charms! I've never seen anything like it before!"

"Yeah," Sirius grinned, "Gave me quite the shock to see you trying to attack her while she was in a _glowing pink dome_."

"She's okay though, right?" Remus said, still concerned.

"Oh, _she's_ fine. It's us that might be in a spot of trouble though," Sirius admitted sheepishly.

"What did you do?"

"Moony, I'm offended that you think I was the cause of this! She just looked at me, I was still in my animagus form, and whispered my name. She managed to _recognise me as a dog_ , mate," Sirius sighed.

"Not fantastic for us, but I reckon that she'll keep quiet if we're nice," Peter chimed in.

"You're telling me you got recognised?" Remus huffed, "Padfoot, you need to be more careful!"

"Hey! I was trying to stop you from _eating_ her, though she seemed to be doing fine on her own. I need to talk to her about it- hopefully she can keep a secret," Sirius smiled, "Who's up for breakfast?"

* * *

"Where were you last night?" Lily asked, it seemed the redhead girl was determined to get an answer from her as they walked together to the great hall.

"I lost track of time, sorry Lily," Kagome smiled, putting a hand on the girls' shoulder, "Thanks for waiting for me, though. I fell asleep on the sofa when I got back, I couldn't really see where I was going."

"Oh, that'll be why you didn't make it back to our dorm," Lily sighed, "You're making me worried and I've barely known you three days."

"I'm so sorry, I'll have to keep a better eye on the time," Kagome apologised. It felt bad to lie to her, but what could she say? Kagome wanted to keep last nights' events to herself until she could confront the four Marauders about it.

As they sat down at the Gryffindor table, Kagome kept scanning the hall, looking for them with narrowed eyes.

There- just coming into the hall were the four boys in question. They looked slightly more dishevelled than usual, and Kagome couldn't help but notice a leaf in Remus' hair, just more evidence that she wasn't crazy- that he was in fact the half-wolf half-human creature from the previous night.

Despite her somewhat weakened state, Kagome reached out with her energy, feeling their auras. She hadn't been mistaken, their auras were identical to the ones she had felt earlier. Except for Remus'. His aura was mostly human, though Kagome could feel what reminded her of a wolf demon's aura leeching off of him, as if it was a parasite using him as its host.

'Strange,' She thought with a frown, 'Maybe _that's_ what all of his illnesses are covering up.'

"Hello, love," Sirius' voice came from behind her, making her turn around to meet his gaze. "You look absolutely stunning today- up for a quick talk?"

* * *

 **Please review, I love reading them! They keep me motivated! This will be two chapters in one day, do you prefer having one in the morning and one in the evening or both in the evening? (I'm English so timezones may be different if you're from another country.) Is the pace okay? Please let me know!**


	25. Chapter 25

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!  
**

 **Chapter 25**

Kagome nodded, following Sirius out of the hall quickly, leaving a confused trail of her dorm-mates in her wake.

They reached a secluded spot, at the very edge of the hallway, where nobody was around.

"Kagome, love, listen," Sirius took her hands, making her frown at him.

"What were you doing in the forest?" Kagome asked, getting straight to the point.

Sirius paled at that, his dashing smile faltering, "Love, I- look," How could you possibly explain that your best friend was the creature trying to eat the new student and that you and your friends had to turn into animals to help him every full moon?

"I know that you were the dog- I don't know _how_ , but you were. James was the stag, and Peter was there too, but I don't know what he was," Kagome said firmly, removing her hands from his grasp to put them on her hips, "And what was with Remus?"

"Please, Kagome. You can't tell anyone," Sirius begged, "I'll explain everything if you promise to keep it a secret."

"Okay," Kagome agreed quickly, never once hesitating.

His stormy grey eyes met her blue ones, she could tell by his voice that he was relieved.

"Thank you, love," He smiled, "As long as you keep this a secret we won't have a problem."

"So, Sirius, going to explain?" She asked, her blue eyes shining with determination.

"A-" He paused, seeming unsure of where to start or what to tell her, "When Remus was a kid, he was bitten by a werewolf, I don't know if you have those in Japan-"

Kagome supposed it meant he was somewhat like a wolf-demon, though she had heard of werewolves from her brother, who loved to read comic books, especially western-style ones.

"Meaning he turns into that thing every month, on the night of the full moon," Sirius explained solemnly, all sense of flirtation gone from his voice.

'Like a reverse half-demon,' Kagome thought, nodding, 'He's human all month and then one night he turns into a werewolf.'

"It's _terrible_ for him. There's no cure, he'll have to live with the fact that he turns into a mindless killing machine once a month for the rest of his life," Sirius sighed, "So, in our second year, we decided to become animagi-"

"Animagi?" Kagome asked, confused, but finding it easy to sympathise with their situation. She understood why they would want to keep it a secret- it would mean becoming an outcast, just as her dear half-demon friends, Inuyasha, Shiori and Jinenji were, if people knew that Remus was a werewolf.

"We can turn into animals. It's a pretty complicated process, took us the most of three years to get it down. You know that I'm the dog, James is the stag, and Peter is the rat. Merlin knows how you knew, but you _did_. We just wanted to help our friend- it's why I couldn't get detention in potions, I _had_ to be there for him," Sirius turned to her, his voice wavering slightly, unsure of what she was going to do, "You're going to keep this a secret, right?"

"Yes, I will. I can tell you just want to help him. People can be so cruel, especially to people who are different, it's good of you to do something like that for your friend," Kagome smiled- there was definitely more to Hogwarts' resident playboy Sirius Black than most people knew. She had been wrong in her initial judgement that he was just a 'womanising pig', as Mary said.

"Thank you, love. I- we appreciate it. If you don't mind me asking, how did you know that it was me?" Sirius asked,

"I can read auras, I could sense it was you," Kagome shrugged.

"What? That sounds like something we'd do in Divination," Sirius laughed, fondly recalling the many times that he and James had gotten kicked out of that class.

"I'm from a long line of priests and priestesses, on my Mothers side. My Father was a wizard, and I just happened to inherit both abilities," Kagome explained quickly, "The 'wandless magic' was just a barrier, I was still learning before I left Japan." Sadness flooded through her, she realised she hadn't completed her training with Kaede, the kind elderly woman who had supported her throughout her trips to the past and was desperate to help her improve for the final battle.

"I'm guessing then that you don't want anyone to know about that, since you were in the Forbidden Forest of all places?" Sirius' nerves had calmed considerably. As he looked into her eyes he could just tell that she wouldn't tell anybody. Her 'barrier' was perhaps just the Japanese priestess equivalent of a shield charm, which he had seen her cast when Bellatrix tried to use a hex on Mary MacDonald, and it was noticeably different.

Kagome shook her head, "We can keep this just between us."

"That's perfect, love." Sirius grinned, relieved.

* * *

"What did Sirius want?" Lily asked as Kagome sat down at the table, the Marauders being only a few benches away.

Kagome looked at Sirius, then back at Lily, "Oh, you know, he's just being flirty."

"Ugh," Lily wrinkled her nose, "You think he'd get the idea that you weren't interested."

"James clearly hasn't," Kagome shrugged, earning a sigh from the redhead.

"Unfortunately so."

* * *

"I _love_ this class!" Mary beamed, practically skipping through the halls.

"Speak for yourself," Lily snorted.

"You're just jealousssss," Mary sang, referencing the fact that every animal that Professor Kettleburn had tried to introduce her to absolutely hated her.

The five girls walked to the edge of the forest, where their Care of Magical Creatures class was held.

"Welcome, again, class!" Their professor grinned at them, reattaching his fake, rusty-red arm.

James stood behind Kagome, tapping her on the back so that she would turn to face him, "Thanks," He whispered to her with a smile, which she returned.

"Oi, Evans!" The Potter boy turned his attention from Kagome onto the redhead that he had been pining after for years.

Lily gave him a glare, not bothering to speak to him.

"Hogsmeade?" He asked, loudly enough that they had the attention of the whole class.

"No, you toerag," Lily huffed.

"Hey! Mr. Potter, Miss Evans, care to pay attention?" Professor Kettleburn sighed.

"Sorry, Professor," Lily apologised sheepishly, though James just grinned.

Kagome, being the only student close enough to the Marauders, could hear their hushed whispers.

"Great distraction, mate," Sirius smirked, proudly showing James a glass container, thirty or so docile bright blue BilliWigs inside of it.

"Thanks, Padfoot. One of these days she'll say yes," James nodded wistfully, "But for now, making half of slytherin float is my main priority."

* * *

The day had flown by, most of her classes remained uneventful, though she was slightly on edge, not wanting to be unfortunate enough to get bitten by one of the BilliWigs that Sirius and James would undoubtedly set free on the school.

"Sickle for your thoughts?" Mary asked Kagome, who was sat on the red sofa in the Gryffindor common room, her small ginger kitten in her lap.

"Don't you think it's cruel of James and Sirius to target the Slytherins just because of their house?" Kagome asked, looking to Lily and Mary.

"Exactly, Kagome! Most of them haven't done anything wrong," Lily nodded.

"Oh, please. Lily, most of them would be more than happy to set you on fire just because you're muggle-born. Those snakes have _no compassion_ , they're mostly purists- they think that unless you're from a pure-blood wizarding family you're less than them," Mary huffed, "I'm never going to forgive them for what they say to you Lily!"

Kagome sighed, even in this new magical world people would still judge each other on their blood, something that they couldn't control. Whether it be Remus, who would undoubtedly become an outcast if people knew that he was a werewolf, or Lily, who was called horrible names because her parents weren't magical, people would be cruel. It filled Kagome with a kind of vengeance- if she ever saw _anyone_ be mean to Lily, or another muggle-born student because of their blood, she would hex them into next week- or at least yell at them.

* * *

 **Please review, they keep me motivated. I really appreciate constructive criticism, especially on the pace of the story- is it moving too quickly?**


	26. Chapter 26

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 26**

Kagome awoke with a start- panting and in a cold sweat. She had a nightmare, the feeling of floating endlessly in the void haunted her, even a month after being freed from it. The void was something that she had dreamt about a lot before she left Japan, when she did sleep. Kagome put a hand to her forehead, finding that part of her fringe had become plastered to it. Her pulse was still beating erratically, as if her heart was threatening to jump out of her chest at any moment.

And so she sat there for a while, in the dark dormitory, the rest of the girls in the room sleeping soundly while she tried to forget the feeling of desperation and hopelessness that she always associated with the void. It was the feeling that you would never see your family again, that you would forever be lost in an unreachable place- it was a feeling that she would do anything to never experience again.

She wrapped one of her hands around the jewel, holding her only link to the past as if it was a lifeline, despite all the death, pain and suffering it had brought.

She stood up shakily, waking Kitsune, her new ginger kitten up.

"Shh," She whispered to the small cat, trying to get her to stop mewling. Kagome silently got dressed, making her way down to the common room again, wand in hand, using a simple 'Lumos' to light up the dark room.

Kagome crept down the stone dormitory stairs quietly, looking around the room carefully, to check that she was alone. She placed Kitsune down on the couch, and sat down next to her, giving her feline friend some much-appreciated attention.

The incident the previous morning had left her mildly shaken, the feeling of being watched was one that she was familiar with but didn't like. So, Kagome resigned herself to reading during the mornings, and decided that, (on the nights where Remus wasn't a werewolf) she was going to go down to the forest to practice her priestess abilities.

She sighed contently, perfectly happy to sit in the common room with her cat, just reflecting upon what had happened the previous few days. It was strange to her- magical society was so different to her home, and was somehow more similar to Feudal Japan than to her life in modern-day muggle Japan.

Both here and in the Feudal Era, people were judged and discriminated against unnecessarily because of their blood. It was something that horrified her, the thought that somebody would care more about somebody's family than their personality, their actions, was so terrible. Whether it be half-demon or half-witch, people struggled to survive in these two, entirely different, worlds because of who their parents were. The reason that she felt it so easy to relate to Remus' story was because she had watched her friend, Inuyasha, struggle knowing he was half-demon, half-human. He constantly wanted to change who he was, all to be free from the prejudice that came from humans and demons.

Kagome sighed sadly, thinking that Remus must struggle immensely with the weight of knowing that he could transform into a deadly predator, capable of killing anything, or anyone, in sight. To be a werewolf must be incredibly stressful- knowing that should you tell anyone the truth there would be the chance you would become an outcast, hated by everybody for something that you can't control.

She vowed, there and then, that she would be different. That she would not judge Remus Lupin because of _what_ he is, and that she would do her best to make his life bearable. He was a nice boy, helping herself and Lily with the potions homework and yet, he had found an odd camaraderie with two boys who were seemingly complete opposites to him.

Remus Lupin was a nice boy. He didn't deserve what happened to him, and it made Kagome's heart ache to think of what he must have been through.

* * *

"You're sure she's completely fine?" Remus asked again, the Marauders having been awake the entire night.

"She's _fine,_ Moony, she's one hundred percent _okay._ " Sirius rolled his eyes, "Kagome won't tell anybody, our secret is safe with her."

"You're _sure_?"

"Yes!" Sirius exclaimed, throwing his hands up into the air, "Merlin, it's fine. We're keeping this whole thing between us, it's okay, mate. We're fine, she's fine. Look, if it'll make you any happier you can talk to her yourself."

"I'd rather not," Remus shook his head, "Who knows what she thinks of me now that she knows I'm a werewolf?"

"She was cool about it, I'm telling you, mate," Sirius tried to reassure him, "She didn't care, she understands. It's all okay, Moony."

"You're just saying that because you want to snog her," James laughed, pushing Sirius playfully, quickly changing the mood.

"Just like you want to snog Evans, eh?" Sirius grinned, pushing him back.

"Come off it, Padfoot," James turned his attention to the glass container full of BilliWigs sat on the floor, "What do you say we set these things free in the dungeons before breakfast, so that they catch the snakes?"

"Sounds great," Sirius agreed with an excited nod.

"You'll have to make sure you can get away from them quickly once you release them, otherwise you could end up floating, too," Remus sighed, watching as James picked up the glass container.

"Don't worry, we'll be quick," James flicked the glass, the thirty-or-so blue insects coming to life, as they flew around the glass container at such a high speed they had just become blue blurs, barely visible to the naked eye.

"Can I come, too?" Peter asked, looking in awe at James holding the container of BilliWigs.

"Sure, Pete," Sirius grinned, pushing their dormitory door open, a creak resounding throughout the common room.

James shushed him with a roll of his eyes, "Come on, mate. We have to be quiet."

"I'm _trying_ ," Sirius whispered, the buzzing of the BilliWigs and the doors continual creaking being less than silent.

* * *

Kagome stood up immediately, hearing a creak from upstairs, though it seemingly came from the boys' dormitories. Taking Kitsune out of her lap and placing the small kitten back onto the sofa, she took her wand, her gaze fixed on the stairs to the boys' dorms.

Slowly, Sirius Black, followed by James, who was holding the glass container Kagome recognised as the one from Care of Magical Creatures, and Peter Pettigrew came down the stone stairs.

"Oh, hey, love," Sirius smiled, James quickly hiding the glass container behind his back in a half-hearted attempted to conceal it.

"What're you doing?" Kagome sighed.

"Would you believe we're just taking a morning walk around the castle?" Sirius grinned, walking over to open the painting.

"You're taking Professor Kettleburn's BilliWigs for a walk?" Kagome raised an eyebrow, though she was smiling.

"Oh yeah," James laughed, "I think they'll _love_ it in the dungeons, right next to the Slytherin common room."

"Come join us, love?" Sirius asked, his stormy grey eyes meeting her blue ones as he gave her a seductive grin.

"Why? Just so that I can make enemies with the Slytherins?" The Japanese Gryffindor rolled her eyes.

"Oh, come on. It'll be fun," Sirius said cheerily.

Kagome thought about it for a second- on one hand, the idea of unleashing insects on people just because they were different unsettled her- on the other, the knowledge that most of them looked down upon Lily because she was muggle-born irritated her to no end, and she wanted to teach them a lesson.

"Don't worry, love. We'll do all the work, you can just sit back and watch," Sirius grinned manically, "If we're lucky enough Snivellus will be floating!"

She shook her head, "I won't set those things on anyone- unless I know they deserve it. I'm not going to help you set them free in the hope that Severus will get caught in it."

"Fair enough," Sirius shrugged, "I'll see you later then, love."

Aside from that one comment, Kagome noticed that James and Peter hadn't spoken to her. She considered that they were probably still on-edge from the ordeal in the forest, though Sirius didn't seem to be as affected as they were.

* * *

The three them snuck out of the common room, quickly making their way down the barren halls towards the dungeons.

"Right," James started, "By my calculations we have about five minutes before people start making their way down to the hall." He set the container down, the small blue insects buzzing obnoxiously.

"Lets release 'em, then," Sirius grinned, rubbing his hands together, pulling the glass lid off the container and haphazardly throwing it to the ground, pieces of glass scattering over the dungeon floor as blue blurs shot out of the now open container.

"RUN!" James yelped, narrowly avoiding colliding with one of the bugs.

* * *

People at the Ministry of Magic were bustling around, their auror department being in a state of true disarray. Aurors were apparating in and out of the building, those who came back returned with serious wounds, and were being attended to by healers sent from St. Mungos.

Some of Voldemorts followers had started an uprising in a small town in England, muggles being their main target. The disappearances in that area had been going on for months, hundreds of muggles, witches and wizards all going missing within the same time period as each other.

It had been happening all around the _world_ , though the mysterious attacks in Asia had stopped, the amount of disappearances suspected to be linked to the dark lord and his followers had doubled.

And so, on that early morning, the dark mark floated proudly above the small seaside village near Whitby. Muggles lay on the ground dying, their blood painting the streets of the town red, their screams haunting the aurors that were lucky enough to survive the fierce battle.

Screaming wasn't the only thing heard that morning- laughter from Voldemort's followers, his death eaters, as they watched the muggles that they regarded with such hatred die, their suffering being the ultimate trophy.

* * *

 **Please review, I really appreciate them, they keep me motivated! Thanks to everybody who has reviewed, I love reading them and I like to hear your thoughts on the chapters. I'm trying to (as one of my reviews on chapter 25 recommended) focus a bit on Kagome's transition to and perception of magical society and develop her friendships more. I do pre-write all of the chapters, but I go back in and edit them all before they're published, so your advice is listened to and applied! I'd also like to explain that: Sirius is starting to trust Kagome- all of the other Marauders are skeptical, but when he talked to her she seemed genuinely understanding of Remus' situation, which she is.**


	27. Chapter 27

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 27**

More owls arrived that morning than the previous one, though a noticeably large portion of the Slytherin table wasn't there for breakfast.

Sirius sniggered to James, "They got what was coming to 'em."

"Oh Merlin," Mary gasped, clutching at the letter she had just detangled from her owl's talons.

"What's wrong?" Lily frowned, looking in concern at the abnormally pale brunette.

"There's been another attack," Mary shuddered, "Those death eaters have attacked a _muggle village_ \- hundreds of people are dead, muggles, aurors, there's barely anybody left alive in that town."

Kagome's eyes widened in shock, this man, the one who wanted the jewel she protected, had his followers attack and kill innocent people because they couldn't perform magic.

Mary held up a clipping of a newspaper article, "My Mum sent me this. Awful, isn't it? And it only happened this morning, right before breakfast! My poor owl must have had to fly so fast," Mary stroked the tawny owl affectionately.

"That's terrible," Kagome whispered, while she had been messing around in the common room, talking to Sirius, innocent people had been murdered.

"It is," Mary nodded, "I'm so glad that Dumbledore is our headmaster, he's the only person that He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named is scared of."

"Where's Remus?" Lily asked, trying to take everybody's attention off the horrific event that had happened just half an hour earlier.

"He's recovering," Sirius explained vaguely, "You know how he is- such a terribly fragile immune system, and that."

"Poor Remus," Mary shook her head sympathetically.

"He should be back by lunch, he'll probably have fully recovered since then," James added, "Who wants to come down to the dungeons to watch the Slytherins float?" He grinned, though everybody could tell he was tense.

Lily rolled her eyes, "Can you just _try_ to leave the Slytherins alone? We'll never have a chance at the house cup at this rate!"

"What is so important about the house cup, Evans?" James asked exasperatedly.

"Wait- what did you do to the Slytherins?" Mary asked with a raised eyebrow.

" _We_ didn't do anything," Sirius shook his head, his grey eyes sparkling with amusement, "The BilliWigs did."

"For Merlin's sake!" Lily exclaimed, "Can't you just leave them alone?"

"Oh, Evans," James sighed, "Of course we can't."

"Let's just get to class- I don't want to hear about you being mean to them," Lily stood up, looking at her roommates expectantly.

"Bye, love!" Sirius yelled after Kagome, who had left with Lily, Alice, Dorci and Mary.

She turned back and rolled her eyes at him, though she couldn't wipe the smile off her face.

* * *

"Welcome, each and every one of you, to Defence Against the Dark Arts!" The eccentric man paused, taking his feet off the desk as he peered at his students with wide eyes, "I'm Professor Lyon- and I've taught you before. Where are we in the lesson plan?" He muttered to himself, shuffling around the classroom.

"With any luck he'll go to sleep again," Kagome could hear Mary whisper to Dorci, who was sat behind herself, Lily and the Ravenclaw boy that Dorci liked, Kyle Stevenson.

"Ah, yes! This lesson we will be covering nonverbal magic! Inferi will be pushed backwards for the sake of you having more time to practice this. It is _most important_ that you learn this. You see, it's required that you learn how to do this for next year!"

Kagome mentally groaned, she had barely had the chance to get to grips with verbal spells, and by the sound of it non-verbal magic would be much harder to learn.

"Using Non-verbal spells gives you the element of surprise. That nasty incident this morning- the one at the near Whitby, I'm sure by now you've all heard about it, one day _you_ could find yourselves fighting those death eaters, and, for your own survival, I would say learning this is _crucial_. Especially seeing as the Wizarding War is _far_ from over, you could one day be in a small village, just like Whitby, using non-verbal magic to kill those death eater scum!" He jumped on his desk with a bang, scaring the people in the front row of the class.

"You really can't blame Peter and Remus for deciding to teach DADA to themselves," Lily whispered to Kagome, who just shrugged in response.

"Non-verbal magic requires concentration and mental discipline! You need to be able to channel your intentions through the wand without your voice, which is a step below wandless magic, which we will _not_ be covering this year. How about we start with something simple? Any volunteers?" He peered at the front row, his wild eyes meeting theirs. "No? Hm, what a shame. You, over there!" He pointed at a shy-looking Ravenclaw girl, hiding behind her brown fringe as if it would protect her from the gaze of the class.

"Come closer," He motioned for her to come to the front, which she slowly did. "What's your name?"

"Briana," She answered timidly, cowering under his stare.

"Ah, Miss Briana- I'm going to use you as a demonstration for the class," He said eagerly, "One of the easiest spells to perform with non-verbal magic is a simple floating spell. The _amazing_ thing about non-verbal spells is that you don't ever have to truly know the incantation- you just have to channel the _intent_. Incredible, isn't it?" He grinned, pointing his wand at the anxious-looking Ravenclaw girl.

Mary shook her head, "Poor girl."

Without warning, Briana started to lift into the air, though she was barely three feet off the ground she still looked terrified.

"And there it is, class! Oh, would you look at the time? Miss Briana, I'm going to set you down," He muttered, the girl's feet touching the ground once more, "Class dismissed."

* * *

Kagome approached the girl after class, noting that she was alone and still looked terrified.

"Hey, are you okay?" She asked softly.

The girl nodded profusely, "Yes, I am now. I just prefer my feet to be touching the ground. You're the new transfer student, aren't you?"

"Yes, I'm Kagome," The Japanese Gryffindor smiled kindly.

"I'm Briana- I really should get to Divination, see you around, Kagome," Briana nodded, beaming.

* * *

The dungeons were always freezing, and as she made her way down there for Potions class, Kagome swore she could see a BilliWig, a blue blur flying quickly through the corridor.

"Hey!" James yelled, "Nobody's floating!" He sounded somewhat disappointed by that.

Lily rolled her eyes, "Honestly, grow up Potter."

Kagome shivered as they walked into the potions classroom, the thin Hogwarts robes doing little to fight the biting air.

"Hello, love," Sirius greeted her with a smirk as he sat down next to her at their bench, "Wonderfully warm in here, isn't it?"

Kagome sighed, "Not really."

"Good morning, class!" Professor Slughorn started cheerily, "I'm pleased to announce that the Slug Club will be up and running from tomorrow, when our first meeting will be held. We will only be taking in new members after our Amortentia exam- do well enough on that and you just may get invited to the Christmas party!"

"What's that?" Kagome asked Sirius.

"A club for all of his favourite students," He answered with a shrug, "Because I've failed every year, I am unfortunately, not invited. But, if you can get us to pass the exam then I can come to the Slug Club Christmas party and convince him to pass me!" Sirius explained his plan to her.

"Why would I-" Kagome started, confused.

"Look, love. You want to pass this class, so do I. We pass this exam and we get into the Christmas party. We get into the Christmas party so Sluggy automatically likes us- and passes us. You get a good grade and a pass in potions class- I get a good grade and a pass in potions class. We just need to work together in the exam to pass it," Sirius grinned, "Come on, there's no cheating involved."

"Why do you want to pass so badly?" She asked.

"If I don't pass this year then I won't have a N.E.W.T in potions, and if I don't get a N.E.W.T in potions, I may get held back a year," He sighed, "So come on, work with me here and help me pass this class? I guarantee you can't be worse at it than me."

"Fine," Kagome felt herself start to smile, "But you have to leave the Slytherins alone, you're bullying them!"

"Deal," Sirius agreed quickly, "I'll leave the Slytherins alone _unless_ it's Snivellus."

" _Or_ one of those blood purists," Kagome nodded.

"We have a deal, love!"

"Mr. Black, could you _please_ pay attention?"

"Sorry, Professor. I just want to be in the Slug Club _so badly_!" Sirius grinned, clasping his hands together.

Professor Slughorn looked doubtful and raised his eyebrows, "We'll see, Sirius. Your exam is in two weeks time- perhaps fourteen days will be enough to turn six years worth of delinquency into a N.E.W.T, or an invite to the Slug Club Christmas party?"

"It will be, Professor. You see I'm just _so_ determined to pass this year."

"I'll believe that when-" The Professor started, getting cut-off.

"When Slytherins fly?" James sniggered from the front.

"Ten points from Gryffindor for your insensitivity to the feelings of the Slytherins caught in the escaped BilliWig incident, Mr. Potter."

* * *

 **Please review, they keep me motivated!**


	28. Chapter 28

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 28**

"Sorry, Professor. Those poor, poor snakes," James shook his head in mock sympathy, "Snivellus, I really do hope you weren't caught in the chaos."

The Slytherin boy in question glared at the back of James' head so intensely that Kagome worried he might burn a hole through it.

"Now, now, Mr. Potter. If you could kindly stop disrupting my lesson, that would be great. Today we will be covering Amortentia again- specifically it's origin. Who here can tell me who invented Amortentia?"

Lily raised her hand, and as expected, Slughorn chose her.

"Miss Evans?"

"Laverne De Montmorency invented Amortentia in the nineteenth century. She is famous for creating many powerful love potions," The redhead answered.

"Correct, Miss Evans! Twenty points to Gryffindor! Yes, Laverne was a witch who attended Hogwarts in the eighteen-hundreds, she was one of the most notable Ravenclaws of her time and had a terrible condition. You see, her skin was green, which was believed to be caused by a magical accident as a child. She was bullied relentlessly during her time at Hogwarts, and so, she spent most of her time in the potions lab, where she created ways of finally getting people to love her. Though, love potions are only _temporary_ and only cause _infatuation,_ Laverne continued her studies after Hogwarts, and created Amortentia, the most powerful love potion on earth." He explained, rattling on about the history of the potioneer behind Amortentia.

"Do you reckon I can cast a jinx on Sevvy without Slughorn noticing?" Sirius whispered to Kagome, looking towards the greasy-haired Slytherin, who was quickly writing notes down.

"I don't know," Kagome hesitated, "Sometimes it feels like you bully that boy."

"Oh, come on, love. You agreed!" He protested.

"Can you just not do it in class? We need to actually _pay attention_ if we're going to pass," Kagome groaned, turning her attention back to the professor.

"Fine," Sirius mumbled, begrudgingly starting to make notes on his dog-eared parchment. When he looked up, he noticed with some surprise that Narcissa, his cousin who happened to also take the class, was staring rather intensely at Kagome. He wondered why his cousins, both Bella and Narcissa, would be so infatuated with their new transfer student. He had barely talked to them since he was sorted into Gryffindor, as most of his family had completely cut him off when they realised he didn't quite share their views on pure-blood supremacy. Aside from the occasional snarky comments (and sometimes hexes) he and Bella exchanged, he didn't talk to any of his cousins, Andromeda being the exception- she was unlike any Slytherin he had ever met.

He found himself distracted with his notes again, shrugging it off as Narcissa's curiosity. Sirius turned to look to Kagome, finding that she was studiously scribbling down whatever Professor Slughorn was telling the class.

Another thing clicked in his mind- Remus had been acting differently that morning- all of the boys' had been. Remus didn't want to come with them that morning, though that was normal for him, but he was still worried. Concerned for himself, that he may get outed as a werewolf and shunned by the entire school, and concern for Kagome, who he attacked. James and Peter barely spoke to the Japanese Gryffindor that morning, something unusual for James, who would normally try to ask Lily's friends if she 'had admitted her undying love for him yet'.

Sirius _did not_ like seeing his friends almost afraid to talk to such a sweet girl, as if they had to tip-toe around her now that she knew their secret. Sirius, though, was convinced that it only made him like her more. She didn't hesitate to promise to keep it a secret- although he was sure she was trust-worthy, the rest of the Marauders, his closest friends, weren't as readily accepting of her. They were worried that at any moment she could flip on them- tell everybody what Remus is.

"Hey, love?" Sirius prodded Kagome gently.

"Yeah?"

"Would you mind just talking to Remus? He'll be back later, when he feels better. It's just that he thinks you hate him, and you're not like that. I guess he's just on edge, James and Peter are too," Sirius explained quietly.

"Of course I will," Kagome smiled, "I don't think I could ever hate him. If he had the choice, he would never choose it."

"You're a different kind of girl, love," Sirius shook his head with a smile.

The professor rambled on for some time, talking about how great this witch was, and how truly amazing her potion skills were, until he realised the time, "Hm, class dismissed. But- remember you only have two weeks until you have to make Amortentia! Start studying!" He yelled after them, after he said 'class dismissed' everybody just started to leave the room, headed outside for their break.

* * *

"Even by the lake it's warmer than the dungeons," Kagome sighed, as herself and her dormmates sat on the banks of the river.

"Ugh, there go the Slytherin boys," Mary turned her nose up at a congregation of twenty or so Slytherin boys, in green robes headed past them to the pitch.

"It's their Quidditch tryouts today," Lily explained, "Ours is tomorrow. Just you watch James go around the common room talking about how he's going to win us the Quidditch cup again."

"He'll have a job, Sirius isn't on the team this year," Mary snorted, "He's been one of our beaters since second year, good at it too. But he's decided to be a commentator this year, Merlin knows why McGonagall let him."

Kagome easily recognised Quidditch as the sport mentioned in 'Hogwarts: A History', one of the books Dumbledore had given her on his initial visit.

"If we're not doing so well Sirus'll probably go back to being a beater, and kick whoever took his spot off the team," Lily laughed, "And I'd bet that after the first match McGonagall won't let him commentate again!"

"It'll be entertaining," Mary shrugged.

"We have charms next," Dorci sighed, "I do hope that we've moved on from that candle-colouring trick."

"You did manage to change the colour," Mary told her, trying to be reassuring.

Dorci just sighed, "Not to pink, though."

"C'mon, let's just get to charms," Mary stood up, "Oh, Alice. Frank said he was looking for you earlier- meet him at lunch by the kitchens, will you?"

The quiet brunette nodded, blushing crimson.

* * *

Kagome had spent the last ten minutes trying to master a slowing charm. They were told to throw their books in the air, and cast the spell so that they would land softly on the desk.

She threw the book above her head, scrambling to point her wand at it, "Arresto momentum!" She said, smiling with delight when the book began to drift down to the desk elegantly, landing with a quiet thud.

"Well done, I see somebody has managed to master it already! What's your name?" The short professor peered at her, his eyes wide from beneath his glasses.

"Kagome Higurashi," She answered.

"Ten points to Gryffindor, fantastic work, Miss Higurashi!" He praised.

"Well done, love!" Kagome sighed as she heard Sirius' yelling from the back of the classroom. She hadn't even noticed that they took this class, they had been abnormally quiet the last few lessons. She assumed it was because they were busy plotting something, seeing as it was one of the few classes where they were allowed to sit near each other.

"Oh, Remus is back," Mary noticed the boy sitting at the back of the classroom, surrounded by the rest of the marauders, "He looks better than he did the other day, poor thing. Having Drulix virus must have been horrible. I've heard that it can cause your _eyes to bleed._ "

Kagome sighed, knowing that Remus' eyes had not, in fact, been bleeding. He was stuck as a werewolf, a mindless killing machine, in the forbidden forest for one night each month- and there was nothing he could do about it. He had to live with the knowledge that he could hurt, possibly even kill his best friends or anybody he happened upon in the forest. And if his secret got out, all hell would break loose.

"The fan club will be glad he's back," Mary and Lily laughed together, but Kagome just gave them a puzzled look.

"Oh, Kaggy," Mary muttered, "You're new, I keep forgetting! Hufflepuffs, mostly naïve first year girls, absolutely idolise them. _Especially_ Sirius. Oh, they probably won't be too happy knowing he's trying to chase after you, but we all know he'll lose interest eventually."

Kagome felt half-inclined to say 'What if he doesn't?', but she kept her mouth shut, listening to Mary's description of them.

"I heard some of those Ravenclaw gossipers talking about it when we came into class- I know that most of them are friends with 'Puffs, who isn't? I'm sure the news that he's flirting with you'll reach them at some point this week. Anyway, Wilma Renee, that's their 'leader'. Absolutely obsessed with anything they do. In her demented mind they can do no wrong," Mary rambled, pausing for a second as Lily interjected.

"It doesn't help James' ego, it's big enough already without those ten-or-so twelve year olds telling him he's a god," Lily huffed, turning to glare at James.

Mary nodded, "At least they're in Gryffindor- they rarely bother us. It's the snakes that get it worse."

"Whenever they do something- like hex those Slytherin girls, the ones that haven't done anything, Wilma will spend all week talking about how heroic they are," Lily rolled her green eyes, clearly annoyed.

"It's only the snakes, Lily," Mary giggled, tossing her short brown hair over her shoulder, "Though I have heard that Wilma has pictures of them in her dorm- isn't that weird?"

"Who'd want a picture of James watching them while they sleep?" Lily snorted, "That'd keep me awake for weeks!"

"Talking about me, Evans?" James yelled from the back of the classroom, clearly having heard his name, "If you're going to confess your undying love for me you can do it now!"

"I don't love you, Potter," She replied coldly.

"I'm just going to ignore the word 'don't' and assume you said it accidentally. Love you too, Evans. I always knew you'd admit it one day, I just didn't think it'd be in Charms class," He grinned.

Professor Flitwick stood on his desk, looking with narrowed eyes at his students, "That is more than enough, Mr. Potter. Please, be quiet and focus on your slowing charm!"

* * *

The second that Charms had ended, Kagome shrugged Mary off and told her she'd meet them in the hall for lunch, so that she could catch Remus after class.

"Hey," Kagome approached him slowly, the two of them being alone, Sirius having dragged James and Peter off to lunch quickly, leaving Remus behind so that Kagome could talk to him.

Remus looked away, refusing to meet her gaze, "Hello."

"I don't hate you," Kagome whispered, startling him. "I won't hate you for something you can't control."

"You should," Remus remarked quietly, his eyes glued to the ground.

"I won't," The Japanese Gryffindor said stubbornly, "You don't _deserve_ to be treated worse because of what you are. I won't tell anybody- it's your choice when and if you tell people, that shouldn't be up for me to decide." She smiled at him, "I'm going to go now, Remus. I hope you're feeling better."

* * *

 **Please review, I appreciate them and they keep me motivated to update!**


	29. Chapter 29

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 29**

At the beginning of lunch Alice had quietly crept away to meet with the Frank boy that Mary had mentioned.

"He's a nice lad, Alice's boyfriend," Mary smiled, "They're going on a date at Hogsmeade, she never really spends them with us anymore." She complained with a sigh.

"It's not like you haven't had your fair share of dates, and times where you've left us to chase after somebody," Lily retorted.

"That reminds me. You haven't had a single date!" Mary gasped, putting her hand over her mouth.

"Only because of Potter- he always scares them away," Lily said angrily, picking an apple off the table in the great hall and biting into it.

"Those things have too many calories in them- they're practically just sugar enchanted to look like apples," Dorci chided, knocking the apple out of Lily's hand.

Lily huffed in protest, "Hey! That was my apple!"

"It's pure sugar, I'm telling you!" The quiet blonde girl Kagome met on the train was slowly starting to open up, and get more confident, to the point where she was smiling about bickering with Lily in front of people.

"Oh shut up, both of you," Mary put a stop to their bickering, "I've heard that Janet, the one we had History of Magic with last year, the Ravenclaw one. I've heard that her brother died in the Whitby attack this morning- she ran out of Transfiguration crying, and that Bellatrix Black, the creepy one that tried to hex me, kept making fun of her. She's _evil_ , I tell you!"

Kagome nodded sympathetically, thinking back to the cold, wide grin on Bellatrix's face when she met her that day on the banks of the lake, when she asked to touch the jewel. She believed with her whole heart that if Bellatrix had the opportunity to touch the shikon jewel it would turn pitch black. Somebody willing to torment a girl that's just lost her brother couldn't possibly have a shred of good left in them. Kagome tucked a stray strand of her inky black hair behind her ear, her blue eyes shining with concern, "That's horrible."

"Isn't it?" Mary leant forwards, "Any hatred of Slytherins is justified to me, if she's evil why would the rest be any different?"

Kagome shook her head in disagreement, "I won't judge them based solely on their house. That's wrong- the fact that they're Slytherin doesn't matter, it shouldn't matter. What should matter is if they're a good person or not. Bellatrix isn't- but there must be good Slytherins. I won't judge them all just because a few of them lived up to their bad reputation."

Mary just looked away, clearly not agreeing with her.

Lily nodded with a smile, "They're not all bad."

* * *

Their Care of Magical Creatures professor was walking around the class quickly, muttering to himself before addressing the class.

"Ah, class. Unfortunately our collection of BilliWigs went missing and turned up in the dungeons. Fifty-two Slytherins got bitten, and in the mess some of the BilliWigs were killed, and the rest are still on the loose. A shame really, isn't it? It did take me ages to find the antidote, those poor, poor bugs. It must have been so confusing for them," Professor Kettleburn seemed more concerned with the dead insects than with the fifty-two Slytherins that were left stuck to the ceiling before he could find the antidote, "So, we'll have to cover something a bit different this lesson. A Moke!" He announced, proudly showing an empty glass container to the class.

"Uh, Professor, I think you may have forgotten something," One of the Ravenclaw girls sniggered.

Professor Kettleburn gave her what Kagome perceived to be a glare, though when he only had one eye it was hard to tell if he was squinting or glaring, "Now, now, Miss Cartwright. You just can't see him yet. He is a Moke, a lizard that can shrink at will, normally he does this when there are large amounts of predators around, which is you lot. Can anybody tell me where they're from?"

The lesson flew by, though Kagome never did get the chance to see the illusive Moke, she did watch the Professor show the class the BilliWig corpses. Mary touched one, and much to her horror (and the rest of the class' amusement), it moved, nearly stinging her.

* * *

"I take back every good thing I've ever said about that class!" Mary ranted angrily, "Was it ever this dangerous in Japan?" She asked Kagome. Over the last few days they hadn't pried much into Kagome's past, though it was clear to her that they wanted to know more.

"Not really. The people there were the most dangerous things," She muttered.

"Ooh, we have a whole free period now. Let's chat about it," Mary squealed, her mind now off the 'traumatic' event as she skipped through the corridors, "What're the people like?"

"Well, there were my best friends, Eri, Yuka and Ayumi. They kept trying to set me up with this boy, Hojo. But he was nice, but kind of, well, boring," Kagome smiled, realising that she now had an outlet to talk about her life in Japan- her friends from the past could become school students and family friends. She could finally talk about them, to share their memory, without mentioning her trips five hundred years into the past.

They made their way into the common room, sitting down on the battered red sofa positioned in front of the fireplace.

"What about boys?" Mary asked excitedly, "Did you have a boyfriend in Japan?"

Sirius sprung out from nowhere, leaning over the couch to interrupt their conversation, "I hope not, love." He said with a frown.

Kagome shook her head, ignoring him, "There were boys. There was Hojo, who my friends tried to set me up with. There were a few other guys, like Kouga, he thought I was 'his woman', but he was _totally_ in love with Ayame."

"Woah, woah, woah, love," Sirius put up a hand to stop her, "You didn't date this psycho, did you?"

Kagome snorted, "He wishes. There was this other guy, but he was so hung up over his ex. He only liked me because I looked like her. He used to sneak off all the time, too. Just to be with her."

"Aw, Kagome," Mary said sympathetically, playing with her brown hair, "That's terrible. He should like you for you."

"I had a great group of friends, though. He became my best friend, and eventually saw me as my own person. There was Sango, she was like a sister to me. Miroku, he was a bit of a perv, but still a lovable guy. And Shippou, he was younger than the rest of us," Kagome smiled, remembering all the times that they had spent together in the Feudal Era, the times when they could just sit and talk, ignoring the threat of Naraku. The times after a battle where she would have to heal everyone. The times they fought together, in perfect synch.

* * *

"C'mon, mate, can't we just go for dinner?" James complained, sitting on his bed as he listened to Sirius, who was pacing around the room.

"Mate, it just seems so fucked up!" Sirius exclaimed, "She's a nice girl, gorgeous, she's helping me pass potions. Why would anybody take that for granted?"

"I don't know mate," James whined, "But I'm _starving._ "

Remus raised his eyebrows, "If I didn't know better I'd say you were jealous."

"Good thing you do know better," Sirius paused, "Because I don't get jealous."

"Let's go for dinner, yeah?" James brought them off topic, dragging Sirius down the staircase, Remus and Peter in tow.

* * *

 **Please review, they keep me motivated! Sorry this one is a bit late, I meant to post this a few hours ago but I've been writing and editing chapter 33. Love you all!**


	30. Chapter 30

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 30**

Dinner passed quickly, being rather uneventful aside from the fact that one of the few surviving BilliWigs managed to make its' way into the great hall, managing to sting a grand total of fifteen Hufflepuffs, two Gryffindors, one Ravenclaw and five Slytherins. It didn't last long before Professor Flitwick petrified it, much to Professor Kettleburn's horror.

And now, James had decided to gather most of Gryffindor into the common room, making a speech in front of them.

"I have been on your team. Second year, I started out as a chaser. For the last three years I have been the best seeker that Gryffindor has ever had! And tomorrow we have Quidditch tryouts! For all of you who think that you, too, can make it!" He grinned, earning a round of cheers from the Gryffindors, who were packed into the common room.

"Unfortunately, our star beater Sirius Black won't be returning to his position. He's decided to be commentator, which I think is a stupid decision-" James started.

"Piss off!" Sirius laughed.

"You'll never be as good as Lenny Abott, mate," James chuckled, "You'll be back on the team after the first match, I bet. As I was saying, try outs are tomorrow. We've lost Sirius, but we all know he'll be back. So, we need a temporary replacement for him, a new chaser and a new keeper," He held up a sheet of paper, "Write your name down for the try outs!"

Within seconds, people had started to mob him. It was clear to Kagome, who was watching from the girls' dormitory stairs, that Quidditch was very popular, and to get on the team was an exclusive thing.

Kagome walked down the stairs, approaching Sirius, "How come you've decided not to play?"

He gave her a dashing grin, "I will. I just want to try my luck at commentating, too. I reckon it'll be fun- I want to see how far I can go before McGonagall kicks me off the microphone."

Kagome laughed, her blue eyes sparkling with amusement, "I've read up on Amortentia, it seems easy enough."

"Thanks love, and just to let you know, we didn't let the insect loose in the hall," He told her, thinking she suspected him of breaking their deal, "I thought they were all caught."

Kagome shook her head, "Professor Kettleburn says they've only managed to catch one so far, and most of them are probably dead."

"Anyway," Sirius changed the subject quickly, "Got a date to Hogsmeade, love?"

"No," Kagome said with a shrug, "I've told you, I just want to explore with my friends."

"Are you sure I can't change your mind?"

"Positive!" She smiled, "I've heard from Mary that you're quite the 'ladies man'. Why don't you ask somebody from your fan club?"

He pulled a face at her, "Are you kidding me? They're all about twelve! And, you're so much different than any girl I've met before, why wouldn't I want to go with you?"

Kagome raised an eyebrow, her sapphire eyes sparkling with curiosity as she leant against the common room wall, "What about me is so different?"

"You can do things they can't. You're the first transfer the school's had in fifty years. You're the first girl to reject me," Sirius said, his stormy grey eyes meeting hers.

"Ah," The Japanese Gryffindor nodded, "You like to flirt with me because you're trying to deal with the fact that I'm not interested."

"You are interested. You just don't realise it," Sirius grinned.

"I thought I was 'playing hard to get'?" Kagome flipped her inky black hair over her shoulder.

"I knew you'd admit it eventually," Sirius laughed, "I'll see you tomorrow, love."

He left her at the bottom of the dormitory stairs. It was only then that Kagome noticed the common room was pretty much empty, save for a few students doing homework. She made her way back up the dormitory stairs, finding that Mary was pressing Alice for answers.

"Sooo, you were gone for all of lunch," Mary sang, smiling brightly at Alice, who just seemed to look confused, "What did Frank wanttt?"

"It doesn't matter, Mary," Alice sighed quietly.

"Oh, Kagome," The talkative brunette turned her attention to the transfer student, "You were talking to Sirius before, has he given up yet? It's not like him to chase after a girl for more than a few days without getting a date, at least."

Kagome felt somewhat proud to tell her that no, Sirius hadn't given up on her and was still trying to flirt with her.

"Wow, that must be a record for him," Mary laughed, "Almost a week into the term and he hasn't even had one girlfriend yet!"

Kagome laughed along with her, pulling out a quill and some parchment, "Do you have any ink, Mary? I think I left mine in Potions today, and I want to write a letter."

"Sure," Mary quickly passed her the ink, nearly spilling it in the process. "Lily?" She called out to the redhead, who was sat on her bed reading.

"Yeah?" Lily looked up from her book.

"I've heard that James is going to ask you out again tomorrow," Mary sang excitedly.

"Big surprise," Lily looked back to her book, "He does it every other day. The answer is always the same."

"Maybe you should give him a chance," Kagome said, starting her letter to her family.

"Maybe you should give _Sirius_ a chance," Lily retorted, not looking up from her book.

* * *

"Why doesn't Evans like me?" James grumbled, trudging back to their dorm.

"Maybe you should try a different approach?" Remus suggested.

"Or maybe she just doesn't like you," Sirius laughed.

"It's not like you're doing much better, mate," James responded with a sigh, "What should I do then, Moony?"

"Try being romantic, girls like that, don't they?"

"Yes!" James exclaimed, jumping on his bed, "They do!"

Sirius paused in his stride, deep in thought. He had never, ever, before had a problem getting girls. But this one, the first transfer student Hogwarts had in fifty years, was giving him a hard time. She didn't even consider him. She didn't want him. And it only made him like her more.

She was different- she accepted the fact that Remus was a werewolf with open arms, she didn't give a flying fuck if somebody was from Slytherin. She completely ignored the inter-house rivalry and when she smiled the whole room lit up.

"Siriussss," James waved his hand in front of his best friend's face, "You okay there mate?"

"I'm fine," Sirius laughed, snapping out of his trance-like state to pay attention to his fellow Marauders.

* * *

 **Please review, they keep me motivated to update! I might have to switch to one update a day since I have less time to write them now that I'm going back to school, and they'll probably be about 8pm (English time). Sorry guys! Love you all x**


	31. Chapter 31

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 31**

She awoke before the other girls in her dorm, as she always did. Though that night's dream had been far more pleasant than the last. Instead of the eternal feeling of floating in the void, she got to relive some of her favourite memories of the past, dreaming about the days when she would bring things from her time back to show her friends.

Kagome smiled to herself as she thought of Shippou, the fox demon that regarded her as his mother, the small child that _loved_ chocolate. It pained her to realise that she may never know what happened to him, she clutched her fist to her chest as she thought about him spending the rest of his life never knowing what happened to her, and that she would spend the rest of hers never knowing what happened to him.

She prayed, with her whole heart, that he lived a long life full of happiness and free from evil. She wished, so deeply, that she could know what happened to any of her Feudal Era friends, just to put her mind at ease. Kagome found herself clutching the jewel again, before releasing her hand from around it and deciding to just get up, to try to take her mind away from the past.

Kagome quickly got dressed and wrapped Kitsune up in the covers of her bed, so that she wouldn't get cold. She made her way down to the common room, potions book in hand. She sat down on the sofa that she had fallen asleep on two nights ago, starting to read up on the process of making Amortentia.

It reminded her of Chemistry, something she actually got good grades on, in her last school. Or of Home Economics, it was just like making a cake- but instead the outcome was a magical potion. She did quite well at that subject too, providing her with a new hope that she may be able to pass.

As she had said to Sirius, the potion seemed easy enough to make. It was the strongest love potion, and it smelled different to everybody, it was supposed to smell like what you loved most in the world.

Kagome yawned, stretching her arms before she turned the next page. She lost herself in the book, carefully studying the history and theory behind Amortentia, and the making of love potions. Before she knew it, the common room started to fill with people headed out of the dormitories for breakfast.

"Morning, Kagome," Lily smiled brightly, "Are you studying for the potions test?"

Kagome nodded, "Yeah, I am."

"If you need any help-" Lily started, getting cut off by Mary.

"She's Slughorn's favourite. She can do no wrong in his eyes," The brunette grumbled.

"Shush," Dorci rolled her eyes, "Let her live."

"Let's go down to breakfast- Alice is talking to Frank," Mary changed the subject, grabbing Kagome by the arm, "I'm starved, I could really go for one of those apples right about now."

"They're full of sugar!" Dorci sighed, seeming somewhat disappointed.

Lily just shook her head, herself and Dorci following after Mary, who was dragging Kagome towards the great hall.

* * *

"I'm going to do it," Bellatrix's resolve had finally broken. Her plan to get Narcissa or Severus to befriend her target was falling through, neither had approached her. So, the devoted Slytherin had decided to take matters into her own hands and talk to Kagome herself.

Lucius sighed as they walked to the hall, "What makes you think she's going to like you?"

"I can be a good actress when I need to be. And I _need_ to be- that necklace of hers is going to be mine, I can become her friend and take it when the time is right!" The curly-haired girl started to laugh manically, startling her entourage of future death eaters. "There she is!"

* * *

Kagome looked up from her conversation with her friends, seeing as most of Gryffindor had turned around to look at a group of Slytherins that were walking towards their table. Some had already started to hurl insults at them, reigniting the ancient rivalry between the two houses.

Bellatrix, the girl Kagome recognised as having tried to hex Mary and wanting to touch her necklace, just glared at anybody who would even so much as look at her. She looked like a force to be reckoned with, storming down the hall, a ferocious scowl on her face, her band of Slytherins trailing after her, their robes billowing behind them.

"Kagome Higurashi," Bellatrix grinned widely, pushing the Gryffindors sitting opposite her target out of the way.

Kagome frowned at the girl, her blue eyes flooding with anger, which Bellatrix seemed to pick up on, "You're the girl that tried to hex Mary!"

"Yeah!" Mary shouted, glaring at the Slytherin, "You tried to 'Incarcerous' me!"

Bellatrix's Cheshire-cat like grin faltered for a second, "A mistake."

"Was it a mistake that you made fun of that Ravenclaw girl that lost her brother, too?" Kagome challenged, fury coursing through her veins.

Bellatrix narrowed her eyes at her, all plans of befriending Kagome Higurashi had left her mind the second she felt her pride had been insulted, "How dare you talk to me like that?" She was _Bellatrix Black,_ pure-blood witch and future right-hand woman of the Dark Lord. She did not, under any circumstances, take kindly to being challenged in any way. She was from the noble and most ancient house of Black, something that should evoke respect and fear from anybody she meets.

"You're not more important than anybody else here!" Kagome put her hands on her hips, standing up to meet Bellatrix's gaze. Her blue eyes flashed- something that would have been a warning sign to anybody accustomed to her fierce temper.

They had already started to attract a crowd, to the point where people from other houses were coming over to watch the scene unfold.

Sirius, being just a few benches away from Kagome and Bellatrix could hear and see everything, and he glanced to James, "What's going on?"

"Why the hell would I know, mate?" James seemed just as confused.

"Go away," Lily said with a sigh, talking to Bellatrix.

"Shut your mouth, mudblood!" Bella hissed, her wild eyes turning to Lily.

"Don't call her that!" Kagome interjected, glaring at the Slytherin girl intensely.

James stood up, turning to Sirius, "What the hell did she just say to Lily?"

Before anybody could stop him, James was standing up, his wand pointed at Bellatrix, "Flipendo!"

The Slytherin girl went flying backwards, crashing into the Ravenclaw table, knocking over bowls of food and throughly scaring the group of Ravenclaw first years that she flew into. She let out a strangled yelp as she got back up, "Potter!"

It was then that the true chaos started. Her band of Slytherins gathered around her, firing spells at the Gryffindors, who just as readily fired back. Dazzling lights flew overhead, some finding their targets, who were knocked backwards or had some form of jinx, or hex, placed on them.

"Merlin!" Mary shrieked, grabbing Kagome's arm and pulling her under the table to take refuge. It seemed that some other people had a similar idea, with mostly first years pouring into the space underneath the table to avoid getting hit in the onslaught.

Kagome could hear all sorts of spells being cast above them, with the occasional sound of somebody hitting the floor, or cursing going on above.

* * *

It wasn't long before the booming voice of their headmaster ceased the chaos, "STOP!" His voice resounded through the hall, stopping everybody in their tracks. It was so quiet you would probably be able to hear a pin drop- it was certainly the quietest that the great hall had ever been in Kagome's time at Hogwarts. There were usually loud conversations, but now there was only eerie silence.

"What is the meaning of this?" He bellowed.

Then, the noise returned. It sounded to Kagome like very student in the hall had all decided to tell their version of events from their point of view at the same time, though with her being underneath the table it was rather difficult to get any idea of what was happening.

"SILENCE!" Dumbledore roared, startling Kagome, who was still hidden under the table with Mary.

"Mr Potter, Miss Black, to my office immediately!" He ordered, "Fifty points from Slytherin, fifty points from Gryffindor."

As Kagome and Mary crept out from under the table, Kagome noticed the absence of Professor Dumbledore, who she assumed had gone to his office with Bellatrix and James.

"You okay?" She asked Lily, who was clutching her neck. She hadn't gotten under the table with them, so it was more than likely she had gotten caught in the crossfire.

"I don't know, I got hit but I don't know what by- it hurts but there's nothing there," The redhead explained with a grimace.

"You should go to the Hospital Wing," Mary said matter-of-factly, glancing around to look for one of their other friends, "Where's Dorci?"

"No idea," Lily shook her head, "Haven't seen her- she might be by the Ravenclaw table, that's where I saw her last."

"Merlin," Mary muttered, looking around the hall to find that there was quite a number of people lying on the ground, from all houses, that had been jinxed or hexed. "There she is!" She exclaimed, pointing at Dorci, who was just a crumpled heap on the ground between the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor tables.

Kagome walked up to her, kneeling down next to her, "Dorci? You okay?"

She just received a groan in response from the blonde, before she started to speak, "My knees hurt so much."

Kagome looked down at the other girl's knees with wide eyes- finding that they weren't there- smooth flesh replacing what should have been her knees.

"Knee reversal jinx," Mary sighed, hoisting Dorci up with some help from Kagome, "We'd better get you to the Hospital Wing, you too, Lils."

Kagome struggled slightly under Dorci's weight, though they managed to get her to the Hospital Wing, which was quickly starting to fill up with students, all with a vast array of different magical injuries.

"Bye, guys," Mary said once Lily and Dorci were settled in the Hospital Wing, the former still clutching her neck. "C'mon, Kagome. We should get to class."

Kagome nodded, "Will they be alright?"

"Oh please, Madame Pomfrey will see to it that they're better in no time. Come on, we have potions, then History of Magic," Mary answered, looping her arm around Kagome's, as they started on their way to class, "Pretty big thing you did back there, standing up to _Bellatrix_."

Kagome shrugged, "She's a bully, and she needs to be stopped."

"Damn right she does," The resident Gryffindor gossip grinned.

"She's just horrible- I don't understand how you can think you're better than anybody else just because your family are all wizards!" Kagome exclaimed, throwing the arm that wasn't linked with Mary's up in the air in exasperation.

"I forgot my outer robe," Mary realised as they got to the dungeons, "I'm going to _freeze_."

"You can have mine," Kagome offered.

"No, it's fine," The brunette sighed, "I'll be fine, I can always borrow somebody else's."

They walked into potions, arm-in-arm, just to find the class was mostly empty, save for a few Slytherins and Gryffindors.

* * *

 **I didn't really know where to end it, but it's already a much longer chapter than usual and I didn't feel like extending it any more. Please review, I really appreciate them!**


	32. Chapter 32

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 32**

Sirius arrived not long after Kagome, with Remus and Peter, though James was still missing. (Presumably he was still in Professor Dumbledore's office, hopefully not facing too much punishment for standing up to Bellatrix).

"Hey, love," He greeted her, taking his seat next to her on the wooden bench, "Those snakes didn't hurt you, right?"

She shook her head, "I'm fine, are you okay?"

Sirius laughed, "They couldn't hurt me if they tried."

"Mr. Black, could you _please_ pay attention?" Professor Slughorn sighed, "Can anybody tell me the effects that Amortentia has on those who drink it?"

Kagome raised her hand, having read up on Amortentia that morning as she started to prepare for the test, though it was thirteen days away.

"Miss Higurashi?" Their professor called her name, pointing at her from the front of the classroom.

"Amortentia causes the person that takes it to become pale and sickly, becoming obsessed with the object of their affections," Kagome answered, recalling the information from the textbook.

"Well done Miss Higurashi, twenty points to Gryffindor! Yes, the effects of Amortentia are pretty much instantaneous. It causes extreme infatuation with a person, and makes them become deathly pale. The scent of Amortentia is multi-faceted, and based around what the person likes. It smells different for everyone, no two people will ever smell the same thing," He started, turning to the chalk board to start listing the ingredients needed to make Amortentia, which Kagome was more than familiar with by now.

Sirius nudged her lightly, his elbow brushing against her ribs gently, getting her attention. "What did Bella want with you?"

Kagome shrugged, "I don't know. We started arguing before she told me what she wanted."

"Horrible, isn't she?" Sirius laughed quietly, inwardly reminiscing about all the times they had traded hexes, the age old Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry very much alive between the two cousins.

The Japanese Gryffindor could only nod in agreement.

"Since we have less of the class than we usually do, I suggest you all start to study how to make Amortentia- I have to sort out the potions cupboard, I'll be back shortly," He said, quickly hopping out of the room.

"Okay," Kagome turned to her potions partner, "To make Amortentia you need an ashwinder egg, rose thorns, peppermint oil, and moonstones."

Sirius nodded, "I've never really understood potions."

Kagome laughed, "You've failed every year, of course you don't."

"I tried, though." Sirius shrugged sheepishly.

She just smiled at him, as their Professor came back into the class, cradling various boxes in his arms.

"Are you coming to watch the try outs?" He asked, leaning closer to her.

"I might," Kagome thought about it, she'd never seen a Quidditch game, only read about them in 'Hogwarts: A History', a book that Dumbledore had given her on his initial visit, which she dutifully read.

"They're really something," Sirius grinned, "Every year there's a few first years that've barely been on brooms before trying to get on the team, even though they know they're not allowed, it's always fun to watch them try to be the exception to that rule."

"Maybe I'll come watch, then," Kagome said, turning her attention back to her notes, which were written neatly on parchment.

* * *

History of Magic passed quickly, being, as always, rather uneventful. Kagome swore that there was no sound more boring than Professor Binns' voice as he talked his way through the Goblin Wars- which they had an assignment on. Not that most of the class would know, they were asleep.

Kagome hadn't talked to Remus, who sat not all that far from her, since that day she cornered him after charms. She knew that he was probably just on edge around her- having nobody but his best friends know his secret, it was probably nerve-racking to know that some transfer student barely here a week knew the one thing about yourself you wanted to hide. She couldn't fault him for being afraid- she would be too.

And now, herself and Mary were headed down to the Quidditch pitch to watch the try outs, without Lily and Dorci, who were still in the Hospital Wing. Alice had been hanging out with Frank all day, which Kagome found out was not unusual for her.

"Ooh," Mary grabbed Kagome's arm as she pulled her towards the pitch, "There's Fabian- I didn't know he'd try out this year."

She dragged her over a grassy area on the side of the pitch, and towards a large tower, a staircase at the base of it. There were four such towers, one for each house, decorated with its' house colours.

Three of them were completely empty, of course, and the Gryffindor tower had very few people sitting in it. It took a while for them to have made their way up the stairs, with the top of the tower seemingly being hundreds of meters away. Mary and Kagome took a seat at the back, the wooden beams creaking as they walked over to their seats.

To say it was windy at the top of the towers would be an understatement- Kagome's inky black hair kept flying into Mary's face, much to the brunette's annoyance, until she restrained it with a ponytail.

Minutes later, seven players took to the air, positioned on their broomsticks. Kagome laughed to herself, confusing Mary. It was a comical sight, people in robes billowing around them in the wind, sitting stationary on their brooms as they waited- the magical world had been something unexpected and new to her, while simultaneously remaining so similar to the trope of witches riding on broomsticks into the night, potions bubbling and black cats pretty much everywhere.

If she squinted, Kagome could just about tell that the boy at the front of the group, messy dark hair whipping around his face, was James.

The seven people spread out in the air, one positioning themselves near the three hoops at the far end of the pitch. There were three players positioned at the front of the formation, facing towards the opposite, unattended goals on the other side. There were two players in between the three chasers and the keeper, each holding a bat.

And above it all, was James Potter, trying to direct them into positions, from the look of it. Though, it was hard to hear what was happening above the howling wind.

More creaking from the lower levels of the stand told Kagome that more people were coming to join them in watching the try outs.

"You did come to watch, love!"

Kagome turned around, her ponytail hitting Mary in the face, who just spluttered, pushing the Japanese Gryffindor's hair out of her face to focus back on the try outs.

She could see Sirius, followed by Peter and Remus make their way closer to them.

Sirius sat down next to her, grinning, while Peter and Remus sat at the very back, two rows behind the others.

"Hey, Sirius," Kagome greeted him with a smile.

Sirius looked at James, who trying desperately to get the team to hear him above the wind, "He's trying. Training the new ones is always hard, I swear half of them have never been on a broom before. You ever played, love?"

Kagome shook her head, "No, I never really had the opportunity." She leant closer to him, so that only he could hear, "Is Remus okay?" She eyed the boy sitting a few rows behind her concernedly, she hadn't had the opportunity to speak to him again after she had cornered him after Charms, though she realised that could simply be because he didn't want anything to do with somebody that knew his secret.

"They're just on edge, it'll be fine," Sirius whispered back.

* * *

Mary just glared at them- she was the furthest thing from happy with Sirius Black. He left a trail of broken hearts behind him wherever he went- he was a reckless womaniser that didn't deserve somebody like Kagome Higurashi.

Kagome was the kind of girl that stood up to bullies. Sirius _was_ a bully- though he usually left people in his own house out of his little 'pranks', he had dated and dumped girls just because he could. Mary was concerned- Sirius hadn't so much as looked at another girl since Kagome had transferred to Hogwarts.

Mary didn't want a womanising pig like him getting too close to her new friend, the nice girl that was willing to stand up to _Bellatrix Black_ , a Slytherin with a dark reputation. And that was why the second she saw Sirius Black whispering in her friend's ear she knew she had to get out of that situation.

"We should go and check on Lily and Dorci," Mary told her, flicking her dark brown hair over her shoulder.

Kagome agreed with a nod, "We should."

"Wait- is Evans in the Hospital Wing?" Sirius seemed rather concerned for the girl that held his best friend's heart.

Mary narrowed her eyes at him, "Yes, she is. What's it to you?"

"Mary!" Kagome frowned at the other girl, confused "Don't be rude, he was just asking."

"Come on, let's go," Mary insisted, pulling her hand over Kagome's and standing up.

Kagome hesitantly agreed, "Bye, Sirius."

"See you later, love?" He said, looking somewhat confused as Mary dragged her out of the tower.

* * *

The second that Kagome got to the base of the tower, she turned to Mary, "What was that about?"

"You don't know what he's like- I'm worried!" Mary exclaimed, tugging Kagome along to the Hospital Wing.

"Who I am and am not friends with isn't your business," Kagome stood her ground, looking at Mary with angry blue eyes.

"He's a womanising pig, Kaggy. He had a different girlfriend every week last year, just because he could. You've been here nearly a week- he's flirting with you, I'm just worried you're going to get hurt!"

Kagome sighed, "It's not like I'm his girlfriend. It's fine Mary, we're just friends, that's it. And I'm not going to stop being friends with him just because you say so."

Mary looked slightly relieved, "I guess that's the best I can ask for."

* * *

 **Please review, I love reading them and they keep me motivated.**


	33. Chapter 33

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 33**

By the time they had gotten back to their common room after dinner, Mary was buzzing with excitement, "Tomorrow's Saturday!"

Kagome, from the red couch, looked up at her friend with a raised eyebrow, "And?"

"What do you mean 'And?'" Mary shrieked, looking at Kagome with wide eyes, as she jumped onto the sofa, startling some of the students who were using the common room to study, "Saturday! No classes!"

Lily, who had only recently been discharged from the hospital wing, shot Mary a glare, "Keep it down, will you?" The redhead had been rather grumpy since her release from the Hospital Wing, because her medication (which she had to take hourly) was horrible, and she took any and every chance she saw to complain about it. Dorci had gone up to her room to sleep- having had the knee-reversal jinx undone by Madame Pomfrey.

"Sorry," Mary rolled her eyes, stepping off the sofa.

The door swung open, James coming in first, followed by Sirius, Remus and James.

"How was Quidditch try outs, Potter?" Lily asked him from across the room.

"Heard you were in the Hospital Wing, you okay, Lily?" He walked up to them, his eyes never leaving the redhead.

"I'm fine now- I got hit by some curse in the neck," Lily shrugged, "The medicine is-"

Mary cut her off with a snort, "Horrible, we all know. You've been complaining since you got out."

"You also managed to lose us _fifty_ points this morning," Lily chided, with raised eyebrows.

"If James didn't hex her I would have," Kagome piped in from next to Mary, earning a surprised glance from Lily. "She's wrong about you, Lils. She's just a bully and she deserved what she got. She needs to be stopped. Everything she believes is wrong- you're not worth any less because of your blood."

Lily smiled gratefully at her, "At least they lost fifty points too."

"We'll be in negative points at this rate," Mary laughed, to Lily's horror.

"Don't say that! We can't lose the House Cup again!"

"Speaking of cups," James grinned, seeming to have relaxed more, "We're definitely going to win the Quidditch Cup again."

"Really?" Sirius took a seat on the sofa, next to Kagome, "Seemed to me like you were having a bit of trouble."

"Come off it, mate. It was windy!" James protested, throwing his hands in the air.

"You've had quite the job trying to replace me- Henderson was completely useless, he fell off his broom when the bludger came in his direction!" Sirius said teasingly.

"He's only a temporary replacement. We just have to wait until McGonagall decides to find a new commentator, then you're coming back," He folded his arms over his chest, facing the girls, and Sirius, who were sat on the maroon sofa.

" _If_ she decides to find a new commentator- you know, I may be so good that I'll never come back," Sirius laughed.

James looked horrified at the preposition that Sirius would never again be on the quidditch team, "You _have_ to come back. Henderson won't be able to hold up against the Slytherins!"

Sirius waved his hand dismissively, "Don't get your knickers in a twist, Prongs. I'm sure she'll kick me off the microphone by the first match."

"We play Hufflepuff first, a week from now," James nodded, "We can beat them, even with Henderson hitting the bludger at his own team."

"If he hits it at all," Sirius snorted.

"Oh, leave him alone, at least he tried," Mary sighed.

"Sirius'll be back after the first match anyway," James shrugged.

"Can you believe Kagome's never played Quidditch before?" Sirius remarked.

Mary opened her mouth in shock, "Ever?"

Kagome shook her head, her black hair cascading down her back, "Nope, never even been on a broom."

James seemed awfully quiet around Kagome, still not entirely sure how to act around her- though he couldn't conceal his surprise, "How?"

The Japanese Gryffindor laughed, "My Father was a wizard- my Mama was _not._ He died when I was very young so I didn't really have any magical influence growing up. Japan is very different to Hogwarts- I guess people are less fixated on Quidditch?" Kagome didn't, of course, know that for sure. She had only ever had non-magical education and truly had no idea how the magical world was in her own country, she only had the Feudal Era to compare it to. So, she decided to keep everything as close to the truth as possible, dodging questions that she honestly couldn't answer.

"I'm sorry about your Dad, Kagome," Mary put a hand on her shoulder.

"It's fine, Mary. I miss him, but I've done my mourning," Kagome shook her head, "Anyway, it's getting late, I'm going to bed."

"Night, love," Sirius called after her.

* * *

Kagome barely left the library that weekend- Lily wanted to study up on _all_ of their subjects, despite the fact that they didn't need to, since it was only the second week.

"Okay, the Goblin Rebellions-" Lily started, snapping the book that they were sharing between them closed.

Mary groaned, "We've been over this like twelve times already! It's the start of the year, can we not just have a break?"

"Later," Lily insisted, "Now, the Goblin Rebellions. One in 1612 took place in Hogsmeade-"

"Ooh," Mary interrupted, "That's only a few weeks away, and then it's not long until Halloween!"

"Can we focus please?" Lily sighed.

Dorci seemed to have given up on listening altogether, opting instead to look forlornly out of the window, fantasising about being free from the library. Alice was reading a book- presumably trying to actually study.

"Oh Merlin!" Mary exclaimed, "It's dinner time already! We've spent practically all weekend studying when we don't even have a test!"

"It doesn't hurt to be prepared," Lily reminded her.

Kagome started to put the books they had used back on the shelves, looking somewhat dejected. She hadn't had the opportunity to sneak out to the forest yet, though she wanted to.

* * *

"C'mon," Mary called for Kagome, as they started to walk out of the library together, the five girls walking quietly towards the great hall.

As they made their way through the somewhat busy halls, younger students bustled around, making it somewhat hard to get through the crowd. Lily collided with a Slytherin, her body slamming into his shoulder. He was one that Kagome quickly recognised as being with Bellatrix- seemingly in their year, he was one to rush to Bellatrix's aid when she was thrown into the Ravenclaw table by James at breakfast on Friday.

He glared down at her, his dark eyes burning with hatred as he looked at Lily. His face curved into a sneer as he pushed the small redhead backwards forcefully, "Know your place, mudblood."

And Kagome saw red.

* * *

 **Please review, I appreciate them! Love you all!**


	34. Chapter 34

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 34**

"What did you just call her?" Kagome's eyes flashed dangerously, as she gave him a fierce glare.

His face snapped towards Kagome, twisted into a frown, "Who're you?"

"The better question is who are you to judge somebody just because they're different?" To say she was angry would be an understatement- words truly couldn't describe the amount of fury Kagome felt deep within her. "She's not worth any less because she's muggle-born." She pointed a finger at him threateningly, "And if I _ever_ hear you talk to her like that again, I'm going to hex you into next year- if you're lucky."

The boy himself stumbled backwards, raising his hands in surrender, though he was narrowing his eyes at her, "Calm down," he slowly reached for his pocket, pulling out his wand.

Within seconds, Kagome had hers in her hand, too.

"Let's just go," Lily sighed, though Kagome didn't appear to be listening to her at all.

Her blue eyes met his dark ones, she sent him a warning look- almost daring him to make the first move.

"You're going to apologise to Lily," She said commandingly, her wand pressed to his chest.

His eyes were wide, looking down at the shorter Japanese girl threateningly pressing the tip of her wand to his heart, and turned to the redhead, "Sorry, Evans," He sneered insincerely, mocking her, even with his apology.

Kagome's eyes flickered- with a flame of her burning anger. He was one of those blood purists that talked down to people because of who their parents were, she could already tell. Kagome was never one to stand for such cruel abuse. She wouldn't just stand aside and let him bully Lily for her blood, especially when it was one of her friends that had, for no reason at all, become a target of those vile people. And that was how Kagome Higurashi found herself using a hex that she had seen James cast on Severus that day by the lake side.

"Anteoculatia!" She yelled, watching proudly as two grey horns began to sprout from the Slytherin boy's scalp. Kagome withdrew her wand from his chest, a satisfied smile on her face, "Maybe that'll teach you to leave her alone."

He instantly started freaking out, feeling the horns upon his head with a look half-way between confusion and sheer terror on his face.

Mary grabbed Kagome by the arm, she could feel the brunette's nails digging into her pale skin through the jumper, as she was dragged, with some force, away from the dumbfounded boy that they left in the corridor.

"You shouldn't have done that," Lily muttered quietly as they hurried to the great hall.

Kagome huffed, "He doesn't get away with calling you that- nobody does."

Mary gave her a proud grin, "That's what he deserved! And there were no teachers around so you didn't even get detention for it!"

"Who was he anyway?" Kagome asked as they made their way into the great hall, finding that most of the students had already taken up their seats at their respective house tables.

"Evan Rossier," Mary answered, "Horrible lad, if you ask me. Luckily we don't have any classes with him- he doesn't take potions, thank Merlin. Evan's really, really _dark_. Apparently, some seventh year Ravenclaw caught him practicing _unforgivable curses_ last year, but nobody really knows for sure."

* * *

Peter tugged incessantly on James' outer robe, needing his attention, "James? Sirius?"

"Yeah, Pete?" Sirius answered lazily, his head in his palm, he was practically falling asleep in the great hall.

"Kagome- you know the one that saw Moony-" He started quietly.

"Yes?" James sighed, "We all know who she is."

"O-okay, well, Miles from our Transfiguration class was just talking about how she hexed Evan Rossier-"

"She did what?" Sirius' head snapped upwards, looking over at the girl they were talking about- she was only a few benches away. In all honesty, she looked like she couldn't hurt a fly- she was just too nice.

Peter nodded, "Evan called Lily a y'know- _mudblood_." He whispered, "And she hexed him- Milo was there, he said Evan freaked out when he started to grow horns."

James grinned, finding a new level of respect for Kagome. "Sirius, mate, what do you think of paying Evan a little visit?"

"Oh, Prongs. I think that's a fantastic idea- want to turn his skin pink?" Sirius laughed, envisioning the Slytherin boy as a hot pink so bright it would burn your retinas.

"Sounds wonderful!"

* * *

Kagome returned to the common room with her friends, who were more than ready to go up to their dorm to sleep, or write letters to their families.

"You coming up, Kags?" Mary asked, from the top of the dormitory stairs.

Kagome shook her head, "I'm going for a walk."

Mary looked at her uneasily, "Remember, curfew is at nine."

"I'll be back soon," Kagome smiled, waving to Mary as she stepped out into the corridor, the portrait swinging closed behind her.

* * *

She crept through the barren hallways cautiously, staying as out of sight as possible as she got further away from the portrait. Kagome heard voices, though she couldn't pinpoint where from. She looked around, confused as the whispers stopped. Kagome looked around herself, seeing nobody there. The feeling of being watched was one that made her immeasurably uncomfortable, especially if she didn't know _who_ was watching her.

"Who's there?" Her blue eyes darted around the hallway, looking for someone, _anyone._

"Relax, love. It's just us,"

She turned around, nearly colliding with Sirius, who was standing next to a sheepish looking James.

She put a hand to her chest, sighing with relief, "You scared me."

"Sorry, love," Sirius laughed, "Where are you off to?"

"I could ask you the same thing," She raised a black eyebrow at him, her hands on her hips.

"Back to the common room, we've just turned Rossier's skin pink," He shrugged, with a grin.

Kagome laughed, "Does he still have the horns?"

Sirius shook his head, "Unfortunately not, love. Now where are you going?"

"The Forest," She answered.

He raised his eyebrows at her, "Do you have any idea what's in there?"

"Nope, I figured I could handle it," Kagome tucked some of her hair behind her ear, sounding determined that she _could_ take on whatever the Forbidden Forest had.

"Watch out for the giant spiders," Sirius winked at her.

Kagome shivered, "Giant _spiders_?" Mary really wasn't kidding when she said there were some in the forest.

"You sound a bit scared there, love."

"Regular spiders are bad enough," She groaned, "Why do they have to be _giant_?"

"I could come with you if you want?"

James huffed, "Sure, mate. Just leave me here, alone."

"Sorry, Prongs." Sirius laughed.

James sighed, turning around to walk back to the common room, "Oh? Kagome?" He paused in his stride, turning around to look at her. "I'll be sure not to get on your bad side, I don't particularly want to have horns."

Kagome laughed, she wasn't entirely sure how he knew it was her that hexed Evan, but she didn't really care. She watched him stroll back to the common room, before turning her attention to Sirius, "Are you coming with me?"

"Sure, love."

* * *

 **Today's my last day of the holidays, I'll be going back to school tomorrow. So, I've decided to make today a double update day, at eight pm, (English time, of course), I'll be uploading Chapter 35. I really liked Amaya Rosanguard's idea (I'm not going to spoil anything but you can obviously take a look at her review if you want to know), and it's going to be integrated from chapter 37-ish, and it's going to take quite a while to write. I'm planning for this story to have somewhere** **around sixty chapters, but at the rate it's progressing, it'll probably be more than that! Love you all!**


	35. Chapter 35

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 35**

"Lumos," Kagome whispered, a soft white light emanating from the tip of her wand as she crept into the forest, Sirius only a few feet behind her.

"Remind me why we're here, love?" He pushed his way through the forest, trying to avoid touching anything. It was difficult to tell where to put your feet, especially at night- he'd seen snakes in the forest before, and wasn't particularly keen on stepping on one. When he was in his animagus form it was much easier for him to see- everything seemed twice as dark now.

Kagome didn't seem fazed by the darkness much. It was something she had gotten used to during her time in the Feudal Era. You never knew when something would attack- you had to be ready at all times, even in the dead of night.

"We're here because I want to practice my barriers- you don't have to be here," She said, her wand being the light that guided them through the forest, when they came upon a clearing.

"I'm here because I want to be, love," Sirius said, pushing his way through the greenery to catch up to Kagome, who had reached the clearing already.

"How does the animagus thing work?" She asked, looking around the clearing.

"It took us most of three years to master- it's really difficult, you can't just do it overnight," He grumbled, "I had to have some stupid leaf in my mouth for a _month_."

Kagome turned around, an eyebrow raised, "You managed to do that?"

"It took us a while," He admitted, "It doesn't help that if you mess up the potion later on you have to redo everything- even the leaf bit."

She smiled, it was good of him to do something like that for his friend, even if it meant having a disgusting leaf in his mouth for an entire month. Kagome turned her palms up, inspecting them carefully. She took in a deep breath, closing her eyes to focus. It reminded her of a dam breaking, the feeling of raw power flooding through her.

"How did you make the barrier? Is it like a shield charm?"

Kagome opened her eyes, spinning around to face Sirius. She shook her head, "It's not as easy to control as using a wand. It's something that some people have and others don't. When I first found out I could do it I was fifteen- I'd never done anything like it before and people expected me to be able to do amazing things just because I'd managed to do it once. I trained a bit, and I've gotten a lot better but it's still exhausting," She explained, flexing her fingers slowly.

"But _how_ do you do it?" Sirius took a step closer to her, intrigued.

"Like this," Kagome smiled softly, raising her hands so that her palms were facing towards him. A soft, pink light enveloped her hands, pink energy knitting together around them to form a dome. Up close, her powers truly were a sight to behold. The barrier swirled, the pink energy never once staying still, instead it looked like one translucent pink whirlpool, encasing them within itself. Kagome's palms were emitting the same energy, tiny pink dots dancing over her palms and around her fingers- the colour was the most opaque there, as if her palms were the focal point of the energy, where it was in its' most concentrated state.

"It's beautiful," Sirius whispered, looking at her in awe.

She curled her fingers back into her palm, breathing softly as she drew the energy in, letting the barrier drop and the energy dancing around her palms dissipate into nothingness.

"I feel like I've barely seen you all weekend, love," Sirius grinned, his usual playboy attitude firmly back in place.

Kagome rolled her blue eyes at him, "That would be because Lily has decided to make us study, even though we don't have any tests."

"Except the potions one," Sirius reminded her, "Can't forget about that one."

"It'll be fine, it doesn't look too hard," She gave him a half-shrug, "I'd never managed to keep up two barriers until the other day."

"Oh?"

"Normally it's hard enough for me to keep up one," She mumbled, "Stand over there, will you?"

Sirius shook his head, walking to the spot she was pointing at, "If you wanted me to leave you could have just said so, love."

She put her hands on her hips, and small pink dots began to dance in between her fingers, just as they had done minutes earlier, "If I asked you to leave I somehow don't think you would."

"You're right," He answered nonchalantly.

Kagome lifted her hands up slowly, closing her eyes to concentrate. She could _feel_ her powers rushing through her, desperate to get out. She could already picture where Sirius was- just across the clearing, standing there and smirking at her knowingly. This time, a barrier began to materialise around not just herself, but Sirius too. She took in a deep breath, trying to remain focused as she opened her eyes. These barriers were weak, unlike the ones she had made just days prior. These barriers could probably be shattered quickly, if somebody were to attack- the ones that she had been able to create before were stronger, impenetrable domes that even a colossal werewolf couldn't break through.

With a sigh, she allowed both barriers to vanish, leaving behind no trace they were ever there.

"Very impressive, love," Sirius complemented, walking back over to her, "Not sure I like the idea of being stuck inside of one with no way out."

"I'd let you out if you wanted to get out," Kagome laughed, "Unless you gave me reason not to."

"I'm starting to find out that your temper is something to beware of."

Kagome raised her eyebrows at him, "Only to people that deserve it."

"We should get back, we're a bit past curfew," He shrugged, "Somehow I get the feeling Mary won't like knowing that you've been out here with me."

"It's not her decision who I'm friends with," Kagome retorted, stepping out of the clearing and back into the dark forest.

"I don't think she could stop you anyway," Sirius walked after her, following her closely.

"Nobody can," Kagome laughed.

* * *

"Where have you been?" Lily yawned, waking up as Kagome walked into their dormitory, the door creaking loudly as it swung shut behind her.

"Sorry," Kagome whispered, noticing the other girls were still asleep, "I keep losing track of time, it's only half an hour after curfew, though."

"You're lucky the prefects didn't see you," Lily rolled over, "Night, Kagome."

"Goodnight, Lily."

* * *

"See, Prongs!" Sirius laughed, "I told you she wasn't a bad girl."

"I didn't think she was," James shook his head, "I was just a bit worried, that's all, mate. But, you know what, I think she's got some balls for sneaking out past curfew."

"We do it all the time," Sirius sat down on his bed, facing James.

"We have the cloak," James reminded him, "She's sneaking out to practice her Japanese magic." James yawned, "I'm gonna sleep- I need my beauty sleep. Tomorrow could be the day!"

"What?" Sirius blinked, what could possibly be so important about _Monday_?

"Evans could admit her undying love for me and I don't want to look like a rat when she does!"

* * *

 **So, there's your second update! They'll be slowing down now that I'm going back to school, but since I've finished with some of my Saturday morning clubs I'll have more time to write, though I'm probably going to get more homework this year. I want to let you all know that if you review with a suggestion, it'll probably be included unless I already have plans that would contradict it. Please review, love you all!**


	36. Chapter 36

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 36**

That morning, Kagome awoke to the sound of Mary's rambling.

"It's Monday already!" The brunette complained.

Kagome sat up straight, startling Mary, who grasped her chest. She looked around with a frown- sunlight was pouring in through the windows, lighting the room with it's gentle rays. She was confused- she'd always woken up before everybody else, and it took her a few minutes to get to her senses and realise that she'd woken up later than usual.

"Morning," Mary greeted her, "It's nice to see you came back from your walk this time."

"I just lost track of time," Kagome shrugged, pulling back the covers on her bed to get up, ignoring Kitsune's protesting 'meow's.

* * *

It was quite probable that the only thing keeping Kagome from falling asleep in History Of Magic was James' and Sirius' voices, discussing their Muggle Studies class. They weren't exactly being loud, but with most of the class being asleep, their voices were the only noise, apart from Professor Binns' continual monotonous speech going on at the front of the class.

"Why did we decide to do _Muggle Studies?_ " James groaned, giving a piece of parchment in his hands what could only be described as a mildly distressed look. "And why the hell did we think Lily would help us?"

"Because we thought it would be easy," Sirius shrugged, "And come on, it can't be that hard- all we have to do is write about another 'muggle culture'. Or, just don't do it at all?"

"How about we don't do it and just get the detention? It's better than going to the library of all places." He suggested.

Remus sighed, "Or, how about you both _do the homework_?"

Sirius gasped, clutching his chest dramatically, "Who do you think I am?"

"It's not even that difficult, all you need to do is find somebody with a different culture and write down what they say- or just go to the library!" Remus continued.

"I'd rather do the detention than go to the library, if I'm honest." James huffed, "Taking it was such a bad idea!"

"I feel you, mate." Sirius sympathised, looking around the classroom to find that, as usual, most of the people in that class were asleep, their heads lying against their desks, the only indication that they were alive being the slow rise and fall of their chests. "A different culture, eh? Kagome?"

The Japanese Gryffindor sighed, turning around to face Sirius, "Yes?"

"Love, would you perhaps be interested in helping me with a bit of homework?"

Kagome raised an eyebrow at him, "Really?" She sounded sceptical, having just heard James say he would rather have detention than do work.

"Well, you see, we have to do a paper on a muggle culture. Tell me about Japan and help me pass?"

She laughed, her blue eyes sparkling with amusement, "What do you need to know?"

Lily rolled her eyes from next to Kagome, "I can't believe you've decided to help him."

"Oh, come on, Lils. I'm just answering some questions," She shrugged.

"Alright," Sirius grinned, pulling out an empty piece of parchment, "Religion? What's that like there?"

"I grew up on a shrine," Kagome started, "There are really two religions in Japan- Shintoism and Buddhism." She looked to Sirius, who was scribbling it down quickly, a wolfish grin plastered on his face, "Our shrine is a Shinto shrine, dedicated to the legend of the Shikon Jewel. Japan's pretty different from England, your customs here are strange. In Japan, it's like, a big thing where you avoid the number four. Because it sounds like our word for death, you just are supposed to try to avoid it, forty-nine is unlucky too, because it sounds like 'pain until death.' I guess it's kinda like English Muggles thinking the number thirteen is unlucky? We have two big gift exchange seasons, summer greetings and end of year greetings."

Lily looked at her, clearly interested, "Why?"

"It's polite," Kagome answered, "You're also supposed to give gifts whenever you visit a friend- the more extravagantly wrapped, the better."

Sirius paused in his writing, "How much are we supposed to write, mate?"

"A paragraph or so," James guessed, leaning back in his chair to talk to annoy Lily, who just huffed when his chair hit her desk- something she would usually scold him for.

"Alright- we're pretty much done then. Thanks, love."

Kagome nodded, "You're welcome."

"Do you miss Japan?" Lily asked, leaning forwards to look curiously at Kagome, trying to ignore James, who was tapping her desk obnoxiously to try to get her attention.

"A bit, I miss my family and my friends most of all, but I like it here, too," She answered, her mind taking her back to days she would walk for hours straight, side-by-side with the closest friends she had ever had, on a mission to complete the Shikon jewel.

"Can you _stop_?" Lily shoved James' chair forwards, much to his dismay.

"Hey! That wasn't nice, Evans," He grumbled, "Repay me with a date?"

"You wish!" The redhead snorted, crossing her arms over her chest.

Kagome rolled her eyes- she hadn't exactly been at Hogwarts long, but she was already getting used to the routine of cat-and-mouse that Lily and James played. He always asked, she always said no- when would it end? When he gave up or when she finally conceded and said yes?

"We have DADA next, don't we?" Kagome interrupted Lily and James' bickering, making the former halt in what must have been a monologue about 'just how annoying and arrogant' James was.

"Yes, oh, it looks like the lesson's about to end," Lily said cheerily, "We're doing wandless magic now, it must be pretty hard if we've been made to wait until sixth year to try it."

James shrugged, "I wonder if we'll actually get taught how to do anything this year."

The redhead narrowed her eyes at him, "Of course we'll actually get taught something. Professor Dumbledore wouldn't hire Professor Lyons if he wasn't capable of doing the job."

"You say that, and yet he managed to fall asleep in our first lesson," James reminded her with a grin, "Doesn't sound to me like a great teacher."

"Let's get to DADA," Kagome held up her hand to stop Lily from firing back, reminding her that they did, in fact, have classes and that she couldn't stay in History of Magic arguing with James all day.

Lily waved her hand in the air, trying to get Professor Binns' attention, to no avail. James stood up, looking down at Lily, "He's not going to notice if we leave, anyway."

* * *

Kagome's wand was pointed at Lily, she frowned, desperately trying to be able to perform the non-verbal magic that was supposedly compulsory by seventh year. She sighed, "Why don't you have another go, Lils?"

The redhead nodded, pointing her wand at Kagome's torso and giving it a flick, her face scrunched up as she concentrated, "It's so hard!"

"Tell me about it," Kagome sighed, looking to her right to find that Kyle, the kind Ravenclaw boy that sat by her, had already managed to levitate his partner.

Lily focused on Kagome, trying to push her intent through the wand without _commanding_ it verbally, like she was used to, "Your turn again."

Kagome kept her wand fixed on Lily. She had only been using her wand for a number of weeks, and she was finding it easier to channel her intent non-verbally, though she just couldn't figure out the exact way to do it. She had been commanding her spiritual energy mentally since that fateful day she was pulled down the Bone-Eater's well- she figured that if she used her magic the same way she did her energy it would have the same effect. She concentrated, willing Lily to float.

Slowly, Lily's feet started to lift off the ground, much to both her and Kagome's delight. She stopped only a few inches in the air, her feet barely off the ground. The Japanese girl squealed, a smile spreading across her face.

"Wow," Lily breathed, "Can you let me down?"

Kagome pointed her wand back at Lily, "I can try?" It took just a few seconds for Lily's feet to make contact with the ground again, as she gave her partner a hug, "You did it!"

Kagome laughed, "I did it!"

* * *

Lunchtime that day was rather uneventful. Alice had once again excused herself, to talk to Frank, it seemed like they were only going to be seeing less and less of her as the weeks went by. Mary was raving about how some Ravenclaw girl had gotten hexed by some Slytherins, and how all of her friends were planning to get revenge on them- though no such thing had happened yet.

"Honestly, I wish they would just hurry up and do it already, those snakes deserve it," Mary huffed, "Kagome, are you okay?"

She snapped out of her trance-like state, turning to Mary with a smile, "Oh, I'm fine, just a bit tired is all."

Mary nodded sympathetically, "Me too, have you done the History of Magic assignment yet?"

"The one about the Goblin Rebellions?" Kagome asked, "Nope, haven't started it yet, I might during free period, though."

"Same, it just seems like so much effort when half the class isn't going to do it anyway," Mary sighed, "We should hang out by the lake for a bit, it's too loud here." The brunette looped her arm around Kagome's, calling out to Lily and Dorci, "Come on, we're off."

"Hey!" Dorci protested, quickly grabbing as many snacks as she could from the table, before getting up. Lily followed after them, holding some of Dorci's 'nutritional snacks' for her.

Kagome looked at Mary, who was humming happily to herself, "Do you know what happened to Bellatrix after what happened in the hall?"

Mary nodded quickly, "Oh, I've heard from Leah Rade, you know, she's a Hufflepuff, was in our Potions a few years back?"

Dorci nodded, taking a bite of her cereal bar, "Yeah, yeah. She's nice."

"And anyway, William Flint was saying to some of his friends, they're seventh year Slytherins so they probably know Bellatrix, Leah overheard them talking about it. Minus fifty points, I think she got a few detentions, but it's with Slughorn so it won't be too bad for her- he is their head of house, after all."

"She deserved more than just a few detentions for what she did," Kagome sighed.

* * *

 **Please review, I really appreciate them. Chapters will be coming every Sunday and possibly on Wednesdays if I have time to write them in the week. Sorry updates are slowing down but I have to focus on school this year to be able to pass my GCSEs lol.**


	37. Chapter 37

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 37**

Bellatrix growled, her fists balled at her sides, one encasing her ornate wand, "Stupid fucking Potter- interrupting my plans."

Evan looked at her sceptically, "You really think it was going anywhere? If it wasn't Potter, then she would have done it. She looked just about ready to hex you into oblivion, if you ask me. Besides, you saw what she did to me! Her anger isn't something I particularly want to deal with again."

"You were both dumb enough to insult the mudblood in front of her," Lucius drawled, from his spot on the Slytherin common room sofa, his arm draped over Narcissa's shoulders.

"Shut up, I don't see you doing any better," Bellatrix hissed, her eyes narrowing to slits.

"If I recall correctly, it was _your_ mission from the Dark Lord himself," He shrugged, as always, exuding an air of haughtiness.

"Rossier was the one stupid enough to get himself hexed by her!" Bellatrix's knuckles were white as she balled her fists, a small, subtle hint of the well of anger that lay within her.

"Evan, try to stay out of the way of people, won't you?" Narcissa interjected, "It was troublesome to try to get rid of your _pinkness_ , the other day."

Evan shrugged nonchalantly, as if he didn't have a care in the world, "I don't know how she did it, honestly. One second I was normal then the next I'm pink."

"Just avoid making her angry," Lucius suggested, "Kagome Higurashi- she's the transfer, isn't she?"

"Yes!" Bellatrix exclaimed her wild eyes meeting his, "We've been over this!"

"The one with the dark hair, blue eyes, really _hot_? That one, Lucius." Evan laughed, "She gave me horns the other day, I'd stay away if I were you- she's got quite the temper."

"You don't seem too bothered by it," Narcissa remarked- she usually stayed out of her sister's madness, but this time, she was intrigued by the girl the Dark Lord had sent her sister after.

"I was, but you know what? She's hot when she's mad," Evan grinned, "She a pure-blood?"

Bellatrix tapped her finger against her chin for a second, her anger temporarily forgotten, "Perhaps- but she's a blood traitor. You've seen how she defends the mudblood- she hexed you. She could be pure-blood, even if she doesn't put any value on it. How else could she get that jewel if not inheritance from an old wizarding family?"

"She could be a half-blood," Evan suggested, "Maybe that's why she's so fond of the muggle scum."

Lucius nodded, "That's probably how she has the jewel then- remind me again why the Dark Lord wants her jewellery?"

"Who are you to question our Lord?" Bellatrix snapped, pointing a finger accusatorily at him, "His reasons are beyond you!"

* * *

Kagome shivered, "It's always so cold down here."

Mary agreed with a nod. It was only minutes before their Potions class would start, and they'd decided to come away from the banks of the lake to come down to their class early. When they got there, though, they found no Professor Slughorn, and instead opted to wait outside in the dungeon hallways, which were equally as cold as the potions classroom itself.

"Can you believe James and Sirius somehow set off a dung-bomb in the library today?" Lily sighed, sounding disappointed but unsurprised they would do something like that.

Mary shrugged, "Leah told me all about it at lunch, her friend Marceline was there, you know, the half-french girl. She said she'd never seen anybody quite as angry as Madame Pince after the explosion- they're lucky to be _alive_."

"Honestly, they don't know how to behave," Lily complained, her back flush with the stone dungeon wall.

"It's been six years, Lils. Do you really expect them to start behaving now?" Dorci laughed, playing with a strand of her blonde hair.

"Kagome, love!"

The Japanese Gryffindor turned around, greeting Sirius, who was accompanied by the rest of the Marauders, with a smile, "Oh, hey."

"Thanks for the help with Muggle Studies, love. Handed it in and Professor Yale loved it- James is the only one with a Muggle Studies detention now," He grinned, earning a huff from James.

"You should have just gotten the detention with me- now I have to scrub the floors _alone_ ," He whined.

Lily shot him a glare, "You two set a dung-bomb off in the library!"

"Yeah," Sirius laughed, "I've never seen Madam Pince look so murderous before!"

James shuddered involuntarily at the memory of her fury upon finding out they were the ones to 'commit such a heinous act', "Truly terrifying."

"How many points did we lose for that?" Lily asked with a sigh.

"Only a hundred," James grinned, "You'll have earnt it back by the end of Potions."

"A hundred?" Lily clawed at her long red hair, "You have to stop!"

"Only if you go out with me," James winked at her.

"No!" The redhead protested, folding her arms over her chest.

"Don't look now," Mary muttered, nudging Kagome to get her attention and subtly pointing to a hallway on their left, going deeper into the dungeons, "But here comes trouble."

Kagome glanced behind Mary, easily spotting a crowd of Slytherins making their way down the hall. At the forefront was a boy with long ash blonde hair, tied in a ponytail at the nape of his neck. To his side, was a smaller boy, who looked remarkably like Sirius, his dark hair barely meeting his shoulders. There was the boy Kagome hexed the other day, who turned his head to avoid her piercing gaze. And lastly, there was Severus Snape, who Kagome easily recognised from that day James hexed him by the lakeside.

Sirius grinned, elbowing James, "If it isn't Lucy, Reg, Rossier and Snivelly! All together!"

"Black," The boy with the long ash blonde hair acknowledged him coldly, his pale blue eyes narrowed.

The boy that looked alarmingly like Sirius kept walking, not stopping in his stride, unlike the rest of the Slytherins, as he disappeared down the corridor.

"Rossier!" James laughed, "You're not pink anymore. I have to say, it suited you. Took us a while to master the charm to do that."

Evan glared threateningly at James, "You mean you did that, and not _her_ ," He pointed to Kagome.

Sirius looked at Kagome, and then back at Evan, shaking his head, "I'm offended you wouldn't think of us when you mysteriously turn pink."

"She did hex me," Evan supplied, looking warily at Kagome, who shot him a glare.

"You deserved it," She said simply, her hands on her hips, the anger she felt towards him still lingering.

"Damn right you did," James agreed, "Fancy having horns again?"

"We're not here to hex each other," Lucius seemed rather uninterested in James, or Sirius and instead turned to look at Kagome, who was glaring at Evan, looking somewhat ready to hex him again if he so much as breathed in a way she didn't like. "You must be Kagome."

She turned around, her attention now off Evan, much to his relief, "Yes, I am."

"I'm Lucius Malfoy," He stepped towards her, "Pleasure to meet you." He gave her a charming smile, his eyes roaming her face imploringly, waiting for a reaction.

Kagome took his outstretched hand, shaking it slowly, "Nice to meet you, too."

* * *

 **Sorry about slower updates, guys. I can't update next Sunday, so I'll hopefully be doing a double update to make up for that! I've had some feedback saying you'd like more time skips? Yes? No? Let me know, please review!**


	38. Chapter 38

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 38**

Sirius looked at James questioningly, his own mind flooded with confusion- what the hell could Lucius Malfoy want with Kagome? He'd spent most of the last few minutes spaced out, trying to analyse his own thoughts instead of actually paying attention to their conversation- and by the time he'd snapped out of his trance-like state, it seemed he was only able to catch the tail end of it.

She was laughing, and waving him off, as he walked away, Rossier and Severus flanking his sides.

"See you around," He smiled at her- she didn't seem to notice but there was just something so _off_ about it, like something sinister was lurking behind the façade of niceness. Within seconds, the small band of Slytherins had disappeared around the corner.

"What the hell was that?" Sirius muttered to himself, staring at Kagome.

* * *

Kagome was finding it quite easy to understand Potions, after she had gotten over her initial disdain for it, she felt that when the time came she would be able to brew Amortentia properly.

"Did you have to dung-bomb the library?" Kagome asked Sirius with a resigned sigh.

He grinned at her, "Well, I didn't hurt any innocent Slytherins. I can't believe Reg is hanging out with Evan and Snivellus," He wrinkled his nose in obvious distaste.

"Reg?" Kagome asked, looking up from the notes she had been diligently making to meet Sirius' gaze.

"My brother," He answered, seeming distant as he talked about him, "We were close when we were younger, but my entire family's been in Slytherin, so a lot of them weren't too happy when I was sorted into Gryffindor. Reg's a Slytherin, probably a pure-blood maniac, hangs around with future death eaters. That's all any of them are." Sirius sounded somewhat bitter, his jaw clenched as he thought about the close friendship he had with Regulus, until it had been torn apart by his family the second they knew he had been sorted into Gryffindor.

Kagome could practically feel the annoyance radiating off him in waves, and put a comforting hand on his shoulder, "It'll be okay." Somehow, those blue eyes had him convinced it would all be okay.

"If you two could please pay attention," Professor Slughorn stood at the front of the class, hands on his hips, his gaze aimed squarely at Kagome and Sirius.

"Sorry Professor," Kagome said, withdrawing her hand from Sirius' shoulder to place it back on the desk.

He looked at her with tired eyes and sighed, "Let's just get on with the lesson, shall we? Your exam is only nine days away, I do advise that you go over the notes you have made so far. The only thing I haven't taught you yet is the order in which you brew the potion, though I'll have told you by the exam. Today we shall be going over the work, as is the case with most of our remaining lessons before the test. Over the next few weeks, we'll be studying other potions, and perhaps making them. We'll be making Veritaserum, the truth serum, eventually, it's something I'm confident most of you will be able to master by the time we go into N.E.W.T. level potions."

"James and I took it from his storage room," Sirius whispered to Kagome, somewhat proud that himself and James had managed to steal it from the storage room, while Slughorn was in there, using the invisibility cloak. Sirius knew that Slughorn had his suspicions about who had taken it, and he was one of them.

Kagome raised an eyebrow, "What did you do with it?"

"Used it on anyone we could, of course. Especially Snivelly- turns out he _was_ being honest when he said he didn't like me. Can't imagine why, though." Sirius grinned at the memory.

Kagome shook her head, laughing, "With all the attention you give him you'd think he'd be madly in love with you."

"I'm not surprised Snivellus is hanging out with Lucius, Evan and Bella. They're future death eaters- I'm telling you," Sirius sighed, internally sorrowful that his brother had joined them, though he knew it would only be a matter of time until he was expected, by their parents, that he join Voldemort.

Kagome looked up at him, with confused blue eyes, "Lucius? He seemed nice."

"Ah, love. You still have so much to learn. 'Nice' is impossible with them," Sirius subconsciously clenched his fists as he thought about the way he saw Lucius interacting with Kagome- it was beginning to irritate him. The Slytherins seemed to want something from her- Bellatrix had confronted her multiple times, Narcissa was forever staring at her intently from across the room, stealing glances when she thought nobody would notice- and now Lucius, who Sirius knew for a fact was a pure-blood maniac, went out of his way to try to get her attention. To Sirius, something was deeply suspicious about those Slytherins- and he was determined to find out what they wanted from her.

"He hasn't done anything to me, or to anybody else yet," She shrugged, "It seems unfair to judge him just because he's from Slytherin."

Sirius decided to leave the subject alone- it seemed clear that she would not be changing her mind anytime soon, and he resigned himself to actually paying attention to Professor Slughorn's lecture.

* * *

When Kagome and her dormmates got back to the common room that evening, it seemed like Qudditch Captain James Potter was having a minor breakdown, his speech half way between a pep-talk and a prayer that their new beater would get it together before the upcoming match.

"Henderson, I know you can do it. I am begging you, _please_ hit the bludger next time. You can't just keep letting it hit Fabian and Ola!" He buried his face in his hands, obviously frustrated, much to Sirius' amusement.

Sirius was sitting on the battered Gryffindor sofa, relaxing, as if he didn't have a care in the world, while James, who was still in his Quidditch robes, was trying desperately to talk his team into getting better.

"Sorry, it's hard," a small voice chimed in- a tiny, barely five foot tall boy had his head hung in shame, the disappointment in himself evident in his voice.

"Come _on,_ Henderson. Take the bat- _hit the bludger_! And for the love of Merlin try not to fall off your broom next time!" James was gesticulating wildly, clearly very passionate about Quidditch.

Kagome turned to Lily, the five girls watching the scene unfold before their eyes, "Is he always this _intense_?"

Mary sighed deeply, looking with pity at Henderson, "Poor boy, he's so small. James shouldn't expect him to live up to Sirius' legacy."

"Want to get the History of Magic homework over and done with?" Kagome asked Mary, parchment in hand as they sat down in the corner of the common room, behind James and near the roaring fire that kept the room warm.

"Might as well," Mary shrugged, looking disdainfully at the dog-eared parchment, "It's so boring!"

Sirius noticed Kagome's presence the second she stepped into the common room, it was impossible not to. Her smile just seemed to light up the whole room, she fit in so well into their house that when he thought about the times before she arrived he wondered how it didn't feel like something was missing.

* * *

 **Sorry I wasn't able to do the double upload on Friday, I was sick :( Hope you enjoy the chapter, please review!**


	39. Chapter 39

**Snap, Crackle, Bang!**

 **Chapter 39**

Kagome's mornings had started to settle easily into a routine. She would wake up before the other girls she shared a dorm with, and sneak downstairs into the common room to practice magic, particularly non-verbal spells, which she was starting to get used to performing. It seemed unfair to her that she was thrown into this world without a choice, and was expected to learn their way of life- but she had decided to make the most of it. She had made some amazing friends already, and she was enjoying her time at Hogwarts, even though it meant being away from her family.

Some days, she resented the jewel. Some days she just hated it so much that it almost hurt her to wear it, but she knew she had to. The jewel had ripped countless peoples' lives apart, had dragged Feudal Japan into wars, and had torn her away from her family. The small, purple, iridescent jewel settled between her collar bones had been the cause of so much death and destruction- it had impacted her life in ways she never thought possible, taking her five hundred years in the past and inadvertently sending her to a magical school.

In a way, she owed so much to such a tiny jewel that she couldn't truly _hate_ it, whenever she looked at it she was reminded of all the suffering and loss borne from it, but also of all the happy memories that wouldn't have been possible if it didn't exist.

She was sat on the Gryffindor sofa, having just practiced a few spells, her hand wrapped protectively around the jewel as she reminisced about her time in the past.

"Kagome?"

She whipped around, her dark hair flying over her shoulders to settle on her back. Kagome sighed, "Morning, Mary."

"You're up early," The brunette made her way down from the top of the stairs leading to the dormitory to sit next to Kagome, "The others will be down soon, we thought we should get to the hall before the chaos starts, you know?"

* * *

"It wasn't even difficult to get her to like me," Lucius was sprawled across one of the green velvet sofas in the Slytherin common room, looking at Bellatrix, who was pacing around the room. "I'm starting to think it might be because you're unlikeable," He added sourly, earning a glare from her.

"Shut your mouth, Lucius!" She scowled, "If you're the one that's closest to her you're going to have to be the one to take the jewel, unless you have a better idea?"

He scoffed at her, "I'm not doing anything quite yet. It's much too early on for that. I'd have to gain her trust first- we all know she'd just hex me if I stole it from her. I don't particularly want horns, or pink skin."

"If we could get into the Gryffindor common rooms we could steal it from her while she's asleep," Bellatrix dismissed his comments with a wave of her hand, "But we'd need a way in, and no Gryffindor would be willing to let us in there."

Evan grinned sadistically, "There's always _other_ methods of persuading somebody to tell us the password. I think the cruciatus curse would do the job perfectly well."

She flashed Evan a glare too, "Need I remind you that you got caught doing that last year?"

He just shrugged, "Perhaps practicing it on a first year 'puff wasn't the brightest idea. Snitches, the lot of 'em. And I couldn't help it if a prefect just so happened to walk in on it!"

Another scowl from Bellatrix silenced him quickly, "The jewel is what's important. She's not going to give it up easily- she probably knows what it does, you don't have an artefact that powerful and not realise its potential. Is there any potion that could make her give it to us? She could have it warded- we need to be careful."

"That's Severus' area of expertise," Lucius remarked.

"Where is he?" Bellatrix narrowed her dark eyes and scanned the common room, not finding him in amongst the Slytherins.

"Merlin knows, probably trying to get that mudblood to take him back," Evan wrinkled his nose in disdain for the muggle-born redhead.

"Disgraceful," Bellatrix spat, "He should know better than to try to associate with such scum."

* * *

All the gossip that morning at the Gryffindor table was about the upcoming match the following day. Gryffindor was set to play Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor was in a frenzy- James had started a chant of 'We will win', which was quickly shut down with a look from Professor McGonagall, their head of house.

"It's the first match of the season," Mary explained, "So everybody's excited- I reckon it won't take too long for us to beat the Hufflepuffs and win the house cup again, once we've knocked Ravenclaw and Slytherin out, of course."

"I don't know, Mary. It's going to be a tough one, with Sirius out of the team," Dorci shrugged.

Mary pulled a face, "We can easily beat Hufflepuff with or without Black!"

"Can we just go to Potions?" Lily sighed, it was clear that she wasn't as fond of Quidditch as everybody else.

"Fine, fine," Mary conceded, finally getting up from the table.

"So Quidditch matches are a big deal?" Kagome asked, brushing an ebony strand of her hair behind her ear.

"Oh, yes!" Mary nodded her head enthusiastically, "The entire school shows up to watch them- even if it isn't your house playing you'll still support one of the others."

They walked through the hallways, chatting excitedly about tomorrow's match. Kagome had only ever seen the try-outs, which she was forced to stop watching half-way through by Mary, so she had no real idea of what a match would be like. The group of girls found themselves passing a hoard of older Slytherins, some looking down at them pretentiously as they walked past. She easily recognised one of them as Lucius, and gave him a small smile, which he returned as he walked past her.

* * *

Sirius grinned at her as he sat down, "Morning, love."

"Hey," Kagome greeted him with a smile, her notes written on parchment settled on their desk.

"Match is tomorrow, I assume you'll be there?" He asked her as Professor Slughorn began his lecture.

She nodded, tucking a stray strand of raven hair behind her ear, "I've heard all about them this morning, everybody seems obsessed with who'll win."

"Believe me, love, it's even worse when there's a Gryffindor vs. Slytherin match. The entire school is going _wild_. This one should be an easy victory, I'll be commentating, as you've probably heard," He said proudly, "Which means the entire school has to listen to _me_."

Mary turned around from the desk in front of them, her eyes narrowed as she listened to Sirius, "Sounds terrible."

"Miss MacDonald, please face the front," Professor Slughorn sighed, sounding somewhat exasperated. "Can we please focus on Amortentia?" He started again on his speech, beginning to tell the class about how the previous year the Slug Club had made some Amortentia, which was later used by some famous wizard in an experiment- he disregarded the fact that nobody in his class seemed particularly interested and continued in telling his story.

"Why doesn't she like you?" Kagome looked up at Sirius, puzzled as she tried to think of a reason for Mary to despise Sirius.

"You see, love, I'm Hogwarts' most wanted," He grinned, earning a laugh from her- when he clearly expected a blush.

"Oh really?" She arched an eyebrow, her tone playful.

"Haven't you seen the way the girls look at me?" His grey eyes searched her blue ones confidently.

In all honesty, she had seen the way he was looked at - wherever he went there would undoubtedly be a swarm of girls in their fan club trailing along behind him. It was difficult not to notice, after all, their 'small' fan club of first year Hufflepuffs was actually remarkably large- they took up most of the hallways in their quest to get Sirius', or the rest of the Marauders', attention.

Kagome just laughed at him, "If you say so."


End file.
